Building trust in the physician/patient encounter

Abstract

This study reports the findings of a trust survey completed by 50 employees from a medical claims processing center and 436 employees from one of the local medical facilities in a moderate size mid-western town. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, the study was to identify opportunities for the physician to create trust during the physician/patient encounter. Second, the study investigated patient contributions to the relationship depending on the level of trust established with the physician. The results identified nine elements that physicians can provide which significantly contribute to building trust during the physician/patient encounter and five significant elements that contribute to building trust from outside the encounter of which the top three are physician characteristics. During the encounter, “demonstrating respect for the patient” contributed most to building trust and the ‘physician’s tone of voice” was highest from outside the encounter. Results from a frequency analysis revealed that when patients totally trust the physician they are “confident the reason for their visit will be held confidential”, “recommend the physician to others’, and would “agree with treatment recommendations for a life-threatening illness”. The results of this study provide physicians with important information on what they need to bring to the physician/patient encounter that will build patient trust and the benefits they will gain from establishing that trusting relationship.