Nurses' Reactions to Difficult Patients

The purpose of this study was to determine whom nurses identify as difficult patients and how nurses might react to them emotionally and behaviorally. Participants (N = 73) responded to a self‐report questionnaire that contained hypothetical situations involving difficult patients. Frustration and anger were the most common reactions. The traits or behaviors that nurses reported as belonging to the most difficult patients were characteristics that are potentially modifiable. In the majority of cases the nurses' reports of their reactions were classic fight/flight responses.