The CALMER approach: Teaching learners six steps to serenity when dealing with difficult patients.

(Fam Med 2004;36(7):467-9.) Editor’s Note: Encounters with “difficult” patients can be challenging and stressful to learners and even clinical teachers. In this month’s column, Heidi Pomm, PhD, and colleagues discuss a practical approach that teachers and learners can use to alleviate the stress in difficult patient encounters and better handle the patient’s needs. I welcome your comments about this feature, which is also published on the STFM Web site at www.stfm.org. I also encourage all predoctoral directors to make copies of this feature and distribute it to their preceptors (with the appropriate Family Medicine citation). Send your submissions to [email protected]. William Huang, MD, Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, 3701 Kirby, Suite 600, Houston, TX 77098-3915. 713-798-6271. Fax: 713798-7789. Submissions should be no longer than 3–4 double-spaced pages. References can be used but are not required. Count each table or figure as one page of text.