A New Conversation on Trust in Health Care and Health Professions Education

  Broken hands on broken ploughs Broken treaties, broken vows Broken pipes, broken tools People bending broken rules Hound dog howling, bullfrog croaking Everything is broken. —Bob Dylan, “Everything is Broken” For many patients, Bob Dylan’s lyrics may as well have been written about the U.S. health care system. While everything may not actually be broken, there has certainly been an erosion of trust in physicians during my career. In 1966, 73% of Americans reported having great confidence in the leaders of medicine; in 2012, that number had fallen to 34%.1 I see this lack of trust most keenly in the eyes of patients when they show up in the emergency department after being told they cannot get an appointment in a private doctor’s office for weeks or months, even though their problem is getting worse. They are scared about the problem and feel that no one cares. By the time I see them, after they have waited several hours in the emergency department, their fears have grown. Before I can even begin to help, I have to work on the relationship of trust. I sit down and begin to listen. Sometimes the story will unfold in fragments, a few words about a pain and then a long discourse about the waiting room, the long wait, and the many people who have asked the same questions again and again. If I am not too busy with other patients I listen, but it can be difficult to find the time. Usually the whole story will eventually come out; after that there will often be blood...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Tags: Featured From the Editor health care teams learning environment New Conversations patient care trust Source Type: blogs