Trust-Based Partnerships Are Essential — and Achievable — in Health Care Service

Abstract

When people think about trust in the context of health care, they typically focus on whether patients trust the competence of doctors and other health professionals. But for health care to reach its full potential as a service, trust must also include the notion of partnership, whereby patients see their clinicians as reliable, caring, shared decision-makers who provide ongoing "healing" in its broadest sense. Four interrelated service-quality concepts are central to fostering trust-based partnerships in health care: empathetic creativity, discretionary effort, seamless service, and fear mitigation. Health systems and institutions that prioritize trust-based partnerships with patients have put these concepts into practice using several concrete approaches: investing in organizational culture; hiring health professionals for their values, not just their skills; promoting continuous learning; attending to the power of language in all care interactions; offering patients "go-to" sources for timely assistance; and creating systems and structures that have trust built into their very design. It is in the real-world implementation of trust-based partnership that health care can reclaim its core mission.

Characterizing experiences of non-medical switching to trastuzumab biosimilars using data from internet-based surveys with US-based oncologists and breast cancer patients

“…Research is needed to further investigate the role of trust in patient-oncologist relationships, and the impact of effective communication on patient emotional response. Literature suggests that trust, a dynamic and evolving process, is central to the patient-provider relationship [ 28 ]. Healthcare communication studies have highlighted the positive relationship between communication and trust [ 29 ].…”

Healthcare brands sound off: evaluating the influence of sonic branding in shaping consumer perceptions

“…Research also suggests that individuals exhibit more trusting behavior when they feel decreased negative emotions, especially those experienced in circumstances that offer low certainty, such as anxiety (Myers and Tingley, 2016). In health care, trust is essential (Berry, 2000;Berry et al, 2021). At times, the consumer surrenders completely to the provider and in some cases temporarily lives in the healthcare facility (Berry and Bendapudi, 2007).…”

“…Consumer decision-making in health care is often intimate and can be laden with emotion (Kemp et al , 2014; Benoit et al , 2022). Trust is also a vital factor that can anchor the relationship between the consumer and healthcare provider (da Silva Terres and Pizzutti dos Santos, 2013; Berry et al , 2021). The purpose of this research is to examine how sonic brands can influence consumer emotional reactions and trust for a healthcare provider.…”

Improving How Clinicians Communicate With Patients: An Integrative Review and Framework

“…Labels often transfer blame to patients, implying fault for getting sick. Although a patient's lifestyle may have contributed to a certain disease, why use a potentially distressing, identity-diminishing term that can undermine clinician-patient trust (Berry et al 2021). Language that empowers listeners, that motivates them, is important in service in general-and in healthcare.…”

“…to Communicate, Henry Ford Health System's CLEAR Communications, and the University of Pittsburgh's VitalTalk training programs all seek to better prepare a clinician to grasp the essence of a patient's story before creating an appropriate care plan. Becoming skillful in conflict resolution is also essential-for example, when patients insist on medically inappropriate interventions or when intrafamily disagreements occur (Berry et al 2021).…”