Let’s talk about abusive patients.
HealthPoint defines abusive behavior as “any physical or verbal action that intentionally harms or injures another person or any physical or verbal action with the intent to do such harm. This also includes harassment, manipulative behavior, and other behaviors that can be construed as abusive.” In other words, patients who act unruly towards you or other patients and cannot be redirected appropriately.
First and foremost, try de-escalating the situation if safely able to do so. This Crisis Prevention Institute article, “10 Ways to Defuse Incidents” provides great resources. Unfortunately, we all know that sometimes, de-escalation is not enough.
You deserve to be treated with respect. If it is not there, say something. You can submit a variance. We promise it’s not going into the ether. Here’s what happens:
Once the variance is submitted, each one is investigated. For every abusive patient variance submitted, the Compliance team takes immediate action. Either Katherine Hall Chiavone and/or Fatima Naeem reach out to the manager or vice versa. We talk to the manager, and the employee(s) involved, review the patient chart, etc.
Depending on the outcome of the investigation, one of three actions are taken: no further action is taken, a warning letter is sent, or a termination letter is sent.
If it is determined that a warning or termination letter needs to be sent, then the Clinic Manager creates the warning letter. The Clinic Manager then sends the letter draft to Katherine Hall Chiavone. She delivers the letter to our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Adil Nicolwala, for his review and signature. Once returned, the letter is sent to the patient, and it is documented in the patient’s documents.
You can read our Patient Communication Regarding Noncompliance and Termination Policy and Procedure here.
