Hospitalists Talk about Rebuilding Trust in Health Care

We present three elements that bolster trust: compassion, competence, and credibility. These exist on both interpersonal and organizational levels. Trust in health care has gradually eroded in the U.S. over the last four decades. While 80% of Americans showed confidence in the medical system in 1975, only 37% expressed confidence in 2015, a dramatic fall of more than 50%.2 And, the U.S. ranked 24 out of 29 in patients agreeing with the statement “all things considered, doctors in the U.S. can be trusted.”3 These pre-pandemic reports on public trust were an augury of signs to come.  Dr. Mathews The cause for this steep decline in trust is multifactorial. Health care in the U.S. evolved in the last few decades into a complex, byzantine system. Emerging business models have turned health care into an industry and patients into customers. And, multiple factors contribute to the fracturing of trust, including an insidious decline of trust in scientific experts, the breakdown of communities and social bonds, structural racism, existing health inequities, and an increasingly polarized media landscape. In this pandemic, the issue of public mistrust has led to our untethering, leaving us in free fall. Trust in health care lies in relationships. Patients’ trust in clinicians is dependent and intertwined with factors of the organization at large.4 Therefore, elements of trust require deeper scrutiny on both interpersonal and organizational fronts. An analysis of factors that af...
Source: The Hospitalist - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Career Hospital Medicine Leadership Training Practice Management Source Type: research