Managing difficult patients in the era of the one-star Google Review

Dentistry has long been recognised as one of the most stressful professions, with high levels of fatigue, anxiety and burnout. There are many reasons for this, but we all know that heightened feeling of anxiety when a patient is aggrieved, aggressive or ‘difficult’ to deal with. Once upon a time a disagreement was essentially a private matter, dealt with in the practice, behind closed doors. Now, patients can make their grievances known to all via online forums, Google Reviews and many other platforms. The once private matter is now aired for all to see, adding a significant layer of stress that was not there before.

Mark Evans has long had an interest in the complex relationships that exist between practitioners and their patients. Like all of us he has first-hand experience of difficult, argumentative and combative patients and once had a patient make a threat to his life, which made him think; how did it come to this?

In this lecture, Mark will give his thoughts on why some patients are difficult (either perceived or real), strategies to deal with them and most of all, let the audience know that we all have to deal with difficult patients. It’s unpleasant, it’s stressful but most of all you’re not alone.

Host or Publisher Derek Mahony