Only 34 percent of Americans express a high level of confidence in medical leaders today, compared to more than three-fourths of Americans in 1966, a mistrust that can have significant consequences during national emergencies and epidemics, The New York Times reports.
Here are six things to know about the report.
1. Less than one-third of Americans said they trusted public health officials to provide complete and accurate information during recent disease outbreaks, such as Ebola.
2. When patients trust their physician, they are more likely to continue seeing the same provider, which can lead to fewer emergency department visits and higher patient satisfaction levels. Additionally, building trust among patients who are marginalized due to socioeconomic or racial reasons may be particularly important in improving patient satisfaction.
3. Patients have a significant role in medical innovation. If patients are not willing to try new treatments and technologies because they lack trust in the therapy's effectiveness or the prescriber's motives, it can hurt innovation progress. Cancer patients considering experimental chemotherapy said trust in their physician had the same level of importance as the belief that their treatment would be effective when they chose to participate in a clinical trial, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
4. Low levels of trust in the medical profession can diminish the strength of public health agencies and governments to effectively respond to health epidemics. For example, a study published in Social Science & Medicine found people who lacked trust in the government were less likely to take recommended precautions during the Ebola outbreak. The lack of trust caused Ebola to spread more widely than it would have if people had greater trust in institutions, the study found.
5. Healthcare providers can build trust by creating expectations for long-term relationships with patients and disclosing conflicts of interest. Additionally, healthcare providers can give patients easier access to their medical notes to help them feel more in control of their own care and increase trust in their providers, particularly in marginalized populations.
6. Care providers can also partner with patients and communities to give them more of a say in the goals and design of research projects and clinical trials to build trust and lessen the sense that research is being conducted "on them" rather than "with them."