Difficult Patients? OD Says Take the High Road

Tactic may not always work, he admits, but it has advantages.

“Kill them with kindness” is one optometrist’s advice for dealing with problem patients. “Taking a page from the customer service industry, I do my best to put on a happy face and answer all insults, slights or otherwise with nothing more than a smile and a nod,” says California OD Ron Rosa, writing in Healio. “While that may seem counterintuitive — and in many cases, ineffective — keeping the moral high ground and just being nice can easily defuse a situation and put your patient in his/her place (or so to speak). This doesn’t work all the time, but at the very least it can keep you from getting a bad review online and possibly salvage the chance at having a productive and non-stressful appointment.”

Read more at Healio