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Perry G. An, MD; Joseph S. Rabatin, MD; Linda B. Manwell, MS; Mark Linzer, MD; Roger L. Brown, PhD; Mark D. Schwartz, MD; for the MEMO Investigators

Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(4):410-414.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Nearly 1 of 6 outpatient visits is considered difficult by physicians.¹ Difficult encounters are more likely to occur with patients who have a mental disorder, present with more than 5 somatic symptoms, exhibit high use of health services, possess a list of complaints, or have threatening and abrasive personalities.^2-7 Physicians report that they secretly hope that their challenging patients will not return and find that, in general, difficult encounters are time-consuming and personally and professionally unsatisfying.⁴

Although the attributes of challenging patients are well defined in the literature, the characteristics of physicians involved in high numbers of difficult encounters are less understood. For example, age and years in clinical practice have been inversely correlated with frequency of difficult encounters in some investigations, yet . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED LETTERS

The Difficult Clinical Encounter and Bothersome Patient Behaviors
Randolph Warren Evans
Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(14):1339-1340.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Difficult Clinical Encounter and Bothersome Patient Behaviors—Reply
Perry G. An, Joseph S. Rabatin, Linda B. Manwell, Mark Linzer, Roger L. Brown, and Mark D. Schwartz
Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(14):1340.
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Unburdening the Difficult Clinical Encounter
Kurt Kroenke
Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(4):333-334.
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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

The Difficult Clinical Encounter and Bothersome Patient Behaviors--Reply
An et al.
Arch Intern Med 2009;169:1340-1340.
FULL TEXT  

The Difficult Clinical Encounter and Bothersome Patient Behaviors
Evans
Arch Intern Med 2009;169:1339-1340.
FULL TEXT  

Unburdening the Difficult Clinical Encounter
Kroenke
Arch Intern Med 2009;169:333-334.
FULL TEXT