Six Patient Behaviors That Drive Doctors Nuts

WHEELING, W.Va., June 23 -- Gauged by the popularity of physician-rating Internet sites such as Healthgrades.com, patients love to trash their physicians for cold personalities -- or just cold hands.

But it's a two-way street. Patients also can do things to make the doctor's job needlessly difficult, sometimes to the patients' own detriment, and definitely to the doctor's annoyance.

A frequently cited 1999 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that doctors rated up to 15% of patient visits "difficult."

Many doctors run into patients with bad habits, which makes diagnosing and treating them seem maddening.

The following is a collection of patients' top doctor-irking habits, as suggested by studies and conversations with practicing physicians.

Frustration No. 1: Meddling Families in the Room

Frustration No 2: Keeping Mum about the Herbs

Frustration No. 3: Quitting Medication Without Notice

Frustration No. 4: Change My Lifestyle? Must Be a Pill for That

Frustration No. 5: Hi Doc, I Need a Prescription for . . .

Frustration No 6: I'll Take a CT Scan, MRI, and Strep Test, Please

Yet while much ink is spilled on how to deal with the difficult patient, most doctors understand it's not about them.

"Who cares? The patient is the center of care, not the physician," said Scott Fields, MD, vice chairman of family medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

"This is part of what is wrong with how we provide care," he said. "We need to be much more worried about why the patient does what he/she does and much less about how it affects us."

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America's Best Children's Hospitals from US News & World Report

The Best of the Best

Out of the 56 medical centers ranked, only these 10 (listed alphabetically) were ranked in all 10 specialties.

* Children's Hospital (Denver)
* Children's Hospital Boston
* Children's Hospital Los Angeles
* Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
* Children's Medical Center (Dallas)
* Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
* Johns Hopkins Children's Center (Baltimore)
* New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital
* St. Louis Children's Hospital-Washington University
* Texas Children's Hospital (Houston)

A-Z index of all hospitals

Clinic and school sponsor wilderness wellness weekend

For centuries people have flocked to Wisconsin’s Northwoods in the summer months seeking health, fun and serenity. From July 24-26 Conserve School in Land O’ Lakes and the Marshfield Clinic continue that tradition, bringing together experts in nutrition, exercise, the arts, and inspiration for "Wellness Weekend 2009: Your Life in Balance."

“Nestled in the wilderness on a 1,200-acre campus, Conserve School is the perfect place to find the balance you’ve been seeking between mind, body and spirit," says Jill Wolf-Rennicke, the coordinator of the annual event. "Our state-of-the-art facilities offer the perfect blend of quality and comfort in our meeting rooms and lodging facilities and walk-out-the-door access to the beauty of Wisconsin’s northwoods.

Each day of the three-day event will begin with the option of yoga, bicycling, paddling or a morning walk. Participants will take part in classes on integrative medicine, the joys of journaling, nutrition and the health benefits of organic foods, or nature photography.

This year's speakers and workshop leaders include Jim Schumaker, MD, of the Marshfield Clinic; certified yoga instructor Terry Simeone; massage therapist Carolyn DeLong; naturalist Jean Haack; chef Rick Dana; nutritionist Mary Sikora-Petersen and writer/photographer Jeff Rennicke.

The event's keynote address will be given by Lori Schneider who recently became the first woman with MS to summit the highest peak on all seven continents and the first MS sufferer to stand atop Mount Everest.


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