5 Reasons Why Trust Is Important Between Physicians and Patients
When it comes to a patient’s health and wellness, it can feel scary at first to open up and discuss any issues with a new physician. This connection is important, not only for the patient’s well-being, but also because it allows the physician to understand and correctly diagnose health problems as accurately as possible.
1. Reduces Anxiety
One of the biggest roadblocks to getting quality care is being able to articulate and describe what you feel to someone who is not experiencing what you are feeling. In order to do this, you need to trust the person you are talking to. When a patient is comfortable opening up about delicate topics and personal problems with his or her physician, then progress can truly be made.
Without trust, this relationship will not grow. You must trust that someone will take you seriously and will not break doctor-patient confidentiality. If a physician does not listen or appears to not believe the patient, then he or she may lose that connection. A heightened sense of anxiety from the patient will cause him or her to talk for a shorter amount of time and share less important information.
2. Helps Communication
The more a patient talks positively with a physician, the more the patient begins to open up. More conversations and visits lead to a clearer picture of the amount of trustworthiness the physician has. The first visit to discuss personal issues with a medical professional can seem intimidating to most people. However, repeated visits can lead to a higher level of trust and eventually, better communication.
The speed of trust in this relationship can increase over time. This level of trust helps the patient bring more symptoms to the physician’s notice as they both talk more.
3. Increases Positive Feelings
Trusting that someone has your best interests in mind is important when it comes to your health. Patients who believe that their physician cares deeply about them and is doing his or her best job to help them feel better often approach office visits with more enthusiasm. These positive feelings can help them show up on time and cooperate with medical tests. This also reduces the amount of worry or hesitancy to discuss personal problems with a physician.
Many gestures, both big and small, can impact how a patient feels about a physician. He or she may notice how the physician interacts with other medical professionals in the same building, or he or she may read reviews online. Face-to-face conversations often hold a lot of sway over how a patient feels, especially if the physician is approachable and takes the time to listen closely to a patient’s worries.
4. Allows for More Satisfaction
A trust-based relationship can allow both the patient and the physician to feel satisfied with visits and tests. Instead of feeling like they must hold back or cannot directly state what they need for fear of a dismissive reaction, satisfied patients feel free to talk openly about what pains or symptoms they notice as time goes on. Likewise, physicians can be honest about what may work or what may not work.
The time spent during a medical visit feels more wisely spent than being in a discussion with someone who will not listen to you, which leads to a high level of satisfaction over time.
5. Creates More Collaboration
While physicians have the technical knowledge needed to help with a medical problem, patients also have much to give when they participate. When a patient trusts a physician, he or she will feel more at ease bringing up ideas or possible solutions of his or her own volition. This sense of collaboration greatly fuels the relationship between both parties, since a patient may notice something about his or her body that the physician does not.
Collaboration can help you catch a wide variety of errors or even help you find a treatment that you did not expect to try. Trust is a key factor in these conversations on both sides of this relationship.
