A sullen patient may wreck your whole day !

The majority physician encounters with patients are constructive. Conversely, just as any venture has intricate and challenging customers; doctors also come across their share of exigent patient encounters. However, the kind of encounters faced by the healthcare providers is completely exclusive. Though, the art of communicating with ‘difficult’ patients is quite primitive, in the hectic practice environment, the communication hand-offs between patient and physician can easily be fumbled. Even a single encounter with a sullen patient can spoil your whole day and may even affect your prospective agenda.

A couple of approaches that will make the encounter “worse”

A physician must have comprehensive information of the patients and their problems. With a scanty clinical, personal and social knowledge pertaining to the patient, if a physician approaches an upset patient, it may exacerbate the patient’s mood leading a pointless plight. Usually, if you face a sullen person you may be doing one of the two things:
1. Guard yourself or the person who upset them.
2. Try to “crack their trouble”
These are natural human intuitions and they NEVER WORK and instead aggravate the scene.

Miscommunication – A social faux pas

Though there is a dispute about patient safety and physician liability, in the social and legal milieu, the saddle for “triumphant” physician-patient communication lies ultimately with the physicians. Dr. Dike Drummond has designed a simple, structured communication protocol named “The Universal Upset Person Protocol (UUPP)”, to deal with an upset person rapidly, elegantly, effortlessly and empathetically.
UUPP states that, at any instance of the upset patient – physician tête-à-tête, the patient must express their “feelings first”. They are yearning to be listened and understood, for someone to heed their situation. Thus, you must:
1. Realize – as they are upset.

2. Provide an opportunity for them to elucidate their problem.

3. Empathize their trouble.

4. Plan accordingly to resolve the issue.

UUPP – The coherent communication protocol :

The application of UUPP in your clinical practice will be get you a great surprise to see how swiftly the person pacifies, making you hassle-free for cracking the trouble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Face the upset person before you converse :

The upset person needn’t be a patient as the UUPP works for even colleagues, your life-partner, children and even complete strangers. Take a deep-breath! Follow the script below and experience how it right away defuses the ‘difficult’ encounters.

Despite what/who they are upset with… the distress generally comes in one of two flavors.

• 1. The person is candidly and verbally revealing the distress.
• 2. The person is upset and NOT VERBALLY EXPRESSIVE. The person is “seething”. You can         spot it out clearly by their non-verbal signals, the body language.

2. Say… “You sound/look really upset.”

3. The upset person will say one of two things :

“You bet I am”

 Or “No I’m not … I am ANGRY/DEPRESSED/FRUSTRATED/HURT/SAD/OUTRAGED.”

They may name a different emotion. There is a part of you that will believe you have “made a gaffe” here. You didn’t name the correct emotion! Just let that go.

The simple act of you commenting on their upset … caused them to think and elucidate accurately what they were feeling. That elucidation is the key for venting and moving forward in your discussion.

4. “Tell me about it.” or “Tell me what happened.”

The upset person does not usually vacillate given your invitation. They will take right off into an emotion filled description of what happened. Your job here is simple … LISTEN. Really listen.

Look to understand their perspective here. Muster up as much empathy as you can. lend your hands for them

“Get it all out of their system”.

5. When their description is over… look them in the eyes and say,

“I am so sorry that happened to you” or “I am so sorry you feel this way”.

6. Ask, “What would you like me to do to help you?”,

In general, the upset person will have a particular demand. Observe their emotions and listen warily as they make it and observe whether or not you are ready to do what they want you to. This is your opportunity to observe your boundaries for the next pace.

Sometimes, the upset person will wind up here. They just wanted to be heard and are done now. Thank them for trusting you with their feelings – see step 8 below. You can move ahead to your clinical issues at this point with a clean slate.

7. Tell them what you suggest be done now.

Analyze deeply and make a decision about your willingness to make a specific stroke.

• If the upset person has asked you to take a specific action – and you are willing to do it – tell them so.
• If the upset person’s request is NOT something you are willing to do – set your borders and communicate them obviously. Tell them you are NOT willing to do what they request and do not stop there. Think about what you are willing to do that will address their upset and tell them what you ARE willing instead. Ask if your proposal works for them. It usually only takes a minute or two to come to a concord here.

8. Thank the upset person for being open with you,

“Thank you for telling me how you really feel… it is imperative to me that we understood each other obviously”.

9. Move ahead…

You have now efficiently “emptied the air” with this patient and you can move on to the clinical reasons for their visit today.

 Note:

1.Even though the full UUPP above has 9 steps, the whole protocol conversation may take only 2-4 minutes

2. IF YOU DON’T FOLLOW THE UUPP – and either try to defend or fix the problem up front — you are in for a 20 minute kerfuffle every time … because people really don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. 

YOUR NEXT PACE :

• 1. PRACTICE – PRACTICE – PRACTICE.
• 2. Print out this document.
• 3. Learn it.
• 4. Perform a “role play” with your friend – Let him play the part of upset person.
• 5. PRACTICE until you are comfortable with the steps and phrases.
• 6. USE THE ‘UUPP’ WITH YOUR NEXT UPSET PERSON.

 GRAB YOUR BENEFITS :

1. Alleviate your stress levels.

2. Thwart burnouts.

3. Turn into a more influential leader.

                                                                        Stay chilled and enjoy rest of your day !