Building Long-Term Patient–Physician Relationships

Abstract

We provide a framework for physician-controlled preconditions that impact patient trust and commitment and uncover the influence that trust and commitment have on three central patient outcomes: retention, referral behavior, and ease of voice. Based on survey data from a sample of obstetric patients, we find that though the proposed preconditions have a significant effect on both patient trust and commitment, the predominance of trust on desirable outcomes such as retention, referral behavior, and ease of voice has profound implications for physicians and other health care providers in the development of patient relationship strategy.

Governance mechanisms in the physician–patient relationship: a literature review and conceptual framework

“…Trust is a widely explored governance mechanism that has been framed within interactional boundaries among parties involved in an exchange. 2 Often seized through a variety of behavioural predispositions such as propensity, attitude or intention, the trust concept incorporates situations when a party chooses to relinquish control and assume psychological and emotional risk 30 in an anticipation that another party will diligently honour its obligations. 31,32 Trust involves making oneself vulnerable to another and expecting some reciprocation of vulnerability in a pattern of joint commitment 30 and mutually supporting bond of trust.…”

“…The physician-patient relationship is a critical issue in health-care markets and a major component of the pervasive concern for quality medical service delivery. 1,2 Characteristics of the physician-patient liaison have been found to affect overall patient satisfaction more significantly than features associated with the general organization of medical practice. 3,4 The presence of a personal doctor, 5 the congruence between patient preferences and practitioner style, the patient-centred practice of the physician, 6 the quality of the doctor-patient communication, 7 and the existence of a mutual agreement concerning the health problem and its treatment 8 were shown to be among the key drivers of improved patient satisfaction with service providers and overall care.…”

Antecedents of patients’ trust in pharmacists: empirical investigation in the United Arab Emirates

“…The other dimensions of trust in physicians are actually antecedents of trust . These dimensions, such as communication and technical competence, may be patient perceptions of physicians’ characteristics of communication and technical competence, which do not constitute the trust in physicians …”

“…[16] These dimensions, such as communication and technical competence, may be patient perceptions of physicians' characteristics of communication and technical competence, which do not constitute the trust in physicians. [23] One of the few studies of trust in pharmacists was conducted in Thailand by Ngorsuraches et al [24] Based on literature on patient trust in physicians, they developed a scale to measure trust in pharmacists comprised of three dimensions: benevolence, technical competence and communication. The benevolence dimension is similar to Hall et al's [10] global trust dimension of trust in physicians and is considered the only dimension of trust in pharmacists.…”

“…[25] Similarly, existing research in trust in physicians has also empirically established satisfaction as a factor that influences trust in physicians. [11,12,16,23] Therefore, it is further hypothesized that: 3 Patients' trust in pharmacists is positively influenced by patients' satisfaction with the pharmacy.…”