How to Approach Patients with Difficult Personality Types

As a medical provider, you come across patients with many different personality types. Some patients are super sweet and will do anything you tell them to do. These are the ideal patients. However, you won’t always get the ideal patient or person coming into your office. Sometimes you will need to work with patients with difficult personality types. I don’t remember being taught how to approach these types of patients while in physician assistant (PA) school.

Before starting practice as a dermatology PA I had little experience with handling difficult personality types in a professional setting. It wasn’t until I became a medical provider and had to take on the responsibility of patient care that I really understood what it meant to work with individuals with difficult personality types.

Over the past few years, I have come to understand that some patients just need a little extra support. They may need time to vent or cry or be emotional with someone. It is important that you pick up on these personality types quickly. If you do then you can gently push the conversation in a supportive and meaningful direction.

In this article, I will cover how to approach three different types of patients. These patients can sometimes be a little difficult and slow down your clinic. These three types of patients are the “angry patient”, the “talkative patient”, and the “sensitive patient”. Hopefully, you as a future or actively practicing medical provider can read this article and leave with some knowledge that will be helpful moving forward when you come across these types of patients.

The “angry patient” who is angry with someone else

This type of patient is actually surprisingly easy to handle. The reason why is that generally, their anger has nothing to do with you. I will get patients who are upset because of something completely unrelated to the reason they are there. In these cases, all you need to do is listen to them and show empathy for their situation.

Other times their anger may be directed at another employee in your practice. Examples of this could include a bad experience trying to call the office, or maybe a long check-in time with the front desk. When this is the case, I always apologize on behalf of the practice. I then assure the patient that this is not the normal way things are handled. Typically once you acknowledge why they are upset and agree with them that the situation is indeed upsetting then they will calm down.

The “angry patient” who is angry with you

How to approach patients that are angry with you is slightly more challenging. The chances of having a patient angry at you are slim. This is because if they are angry at you then they likely wouldn’t be returning to see you! If you by chance do get a patient that is angry at you for whatever reason. Either the medication you prescribed isn’t working or a side effect occurred that you didn’t address, then you need to follow a similar approach as if they were angry with someone else. Let the patient vent, give a sincere apology, and then move on.

Go above and beyond to show you are trying to make up for the error or inconvenience of them having to come back to the office. Explain your reasoning behind why you treated how you did in detail and your plan for going forward. Since I work in dermatology, I also make sure any upset patient always leaves with free samples. Even if it is just a simple moisturizer, it is good practice to give them something. Presents are always a good way to cheer someone up.

The “talkative patient”

These patients can be a little more difficult to handle. Most of the time talkative patients are lonely and are simply happy to have someone to talk to. You may have to gently interrupt them and insert yourself into the conversation in order to get anywhere. You can try and do the patient’s physical exam as they talk. If you do that make sure to engage in conversation as you work. Attempt to redirect the conversation to why they are there to be seen.

It would be nice if I could sit and chat with all my patients for 30 minutes or more. Unfortunately, most days there simply isn’t time for that. If you are familiar with the patient and know they like to chat for lengthy periods of time then you may need to have your medical assistant (MA) interrupt the visit after a set period of time. This interruption will allow you an opportunity to redirect the conversation.

The “sensitive patient”

There are different ways to approach patients that are sensitive. I have mentors that prefer to give a little tough love approach. My approach tends to be much gentler as I also sometimes self-identify as a “sensitive patient” (I have a low pain tolerance and don’t like receiving shots or having blood drawn). I have been known for babying my sensitive patients. I do find that they always leave extremely appreciative of me doing so.

If you are doing a procedure, make sure to ask these patients if they need to lie down. Ask if they want you to tell them when you’re about to do something or to just do it. Make sure you take a little extra time so they don’t feel rushed. Once the procedure has been completed tell them they can take as much time as they need. This will give them the confidence that you truly care about wh they are being sensitive about.

Final thoughts on how to approach patients

I always come from a place of empathy and patience when treating any patient. Sometimes, even after being as kind as possible, the patient will still leave unhappy. It is impossible to please everyone, but if you always come from a place of kindness then you will definitely make more patients happy than upset. Working in medicine can be difficult but it can also be extremely rewarding. My absolute favorite thing is when a patient tells me that their friend or family member recommended me because of how great of an experience they had. If you strive for that in every encounter you have with a patient regardless of their personality type then you will be able to handle anything that comes your way.