Heartsink hotel, or 'oh No, look who's on my schedule this afternoon!'

摘要

It is a dirty little secret that every provider has patients that make their "heart sink" when they see them on their schedule.1 Such patients have been variously called "black holes,"2 "difficult,"3 "frustrating,"4 "disliked"5 and in the sentinel 1978 article, even "hateful."6 What is perhaps surprising is that they are so common, accounting for up to 15 % of primary care patients worldwide. At first, we tried to blame the patients. We "discovered" that dreaded patients share a number of characteristics.