Week 3 Day 1

I had a really grouchy patient today... and I think I let it get to me a little bit and consequently maybe I didn't do the best job I could have.

Apparently the first appointment this patient was meant to have was all mixed up. He then had to reschedule and the only time we were both available was in 3 weeks time, so he went for 3 weeks without physio treatment only a few weeks post a rotator cuff repair.

The receptionist had told me he was grumpy when he was made to reschedule but I just didn't expect him to be THIS grumpy as he had 2 weeks to cool down. But he walked in with his sunglasses on (yes he sat in the waiting room for 20 minutes with sunglasses on) and I wasn't sure he was going to take them off, but he eventually did to my relief. I could tell that he wasn't in a good mood from the moment I called his name so I tried to be extra polite and friendly to get him on my side, but he still had a chip on his shoulder. After doing my subjective with no eye contact from him and one word answers I was starting to give up, and then when I got to do the objective and had to ask him to remove his shirt he didn't smell the best so it all added up to a not very nice situation! I tried to do a good job but it just got me down a bit. I think next time I'm just going to have to keep going with the friendly atmosphere even if I get nothing in return. He did mellow out a little bit by the end so hopefully he'll walk in a little happier next time and it will go a lot smoother!