It is rewarding to treat patients and provide them with foot and ankle care that can make them feel their best.

There are times when patients may not always display a cheerful demeanor. A hostile and uncooperative patient can put a damper on your day and make it challenging to treat the next patient with the spirit they deserve.

In practicing podiatric care for 25 years, I have learned the importance of being positive and calm when listening to my patients and providing care.

Here are five tips to help podiatrists who are dealing with a difficult patient:

1. In treating patients who may not act their best, I have learned that just listening and letting them vent is the best way to abate their anger eventually. Not everything is about their care or your office; it can be just frustration with life or something at home. If it is about their care, they feel better getting their say, and then we work on coming up with solutions to their frustration and an apology from me for any office issue.
2. In dealing with them, it is essential to create boundaries to ensure that patients treat us respectfully and that nurses and medical assistants are treated well. As attracting and retaining employees continues to be challenging, employees who come to work in environments that are more stressful than they need to be are at risk for increased turnover. Having a policy and procedure for how staff can respond to these cases can better prepare them to ensure they are treated with dignity and can continue to come to work and engage positively with patients.
3. Understanding patients' moods may not have anything to do with you but more about them. Perhaps they are having a bad day. Learning not to take a poor attitude personally may not change the situation, but it may help change your perspective when patients come to the office in a less-than-ideal mood. I have no problem with a patient yelling at me, but I will not tolerate them treating the staff that way. I have learned to let their anger bounce off and not take home any patient issues. My staff knows that I have their back, and they can report any patient problems to me without engaging with the patient.
4. Validating the patient's feelings may be all they need to change the dynamics and continue with a positive appointment so the patient can receive care. I have found that just listening can often de-escalate most situations. For many older patients, their appointment may be their only outing for the day/week, and the only time they get to engage with other people.
5. Know your boundaries and establish a system for reacting to negative behaviors. Understand when it may be necessary to end an appointment and dismiss a patient. I feel that doctors need to take the reins and handle disruptive or angry patients, especially if we need to end the appointment or refer them somewhere else.
   

We all have bad days, and we do not have to allow others' bad days to impact our good days. Having a plan to react to less-than-ideal patients can establish boundaries and ensure that when a less-than-ideal circumstance occurs, a plan of action is there so that unnecessary stress does not happen. Your staff will also appreciate that you will stand up for them and they don't have to deal with unhappy patients on their own.

Dana Dober, DPM, is a podiatrist in Broomall, Pennsylvania, practicing at Podiatry Care Specialists. Dr. Dober serves on the board of directors of PPMA.