American physician Joan Naidorf takes a look at how healthcare professionals can better deal with challenging patients and families, providing helpful tools to shift your mindset toward greater compassion.

Doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals must deal with all types of patients, and inevitably, some of them are 'difficult.'

But the way we respond to difficult patients can negatively impact how we feel about both our jobs and ourselves.

Joan Naidorf is an author and physician with nearly 30 years of emergency department experience in the U.S.

In her 2022 book, Changing How We Think About Difficult Patients, Naidorf explains what makes patients challenging and how healthcare professionals can, with some intention, develop the compassion needed to navigate challenging situations with less stress and greater satisfaction.