ABSTRACT
Steven R. H a h n Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Jacobi Medical Center, Bronx, New York
The Difficult Doctor Patient Relationship Questionnaire (DDPRQ; Hahn, Thompson, Stern, Budner, & Wills, 1994; Hahn et al., 1996) is a self-report instrument completed by physicians and other medical providers after an encounter with a patient that is designed to identify patients whose care is experienced as difficult (Hahn et a l , 1994). It has long been recognized that some patients are experienced by their medical providers as difficult to care for. Physician-experienced difficulty has typically been ascribed to the patient; therefore patients who are experienced as difficult are often described as "difficult," "frustrating," or "problem" patients. Patients experienced as difficult are thought to be relatively common and have health-related outcomes that make them of special concern. They are thought to be high utilizers of health care service, dissatisfied with the care they receive, cause physician burn-out and dissatisfaction, and have poorer treatment outcomes than patients who do not cause difficulty in the doctor-patient relationship.
