Trust and Relationships Remain at the Heart of Primary Care

In Brief

Trust and Relationships Remain at the Heart of Primary Care

Kenneth W. Lin

Background Family physician and blogger Kenneth W. Lin, MD, MPH, writes about the theme of trust and relationships in primary care.

What This Study Found Linzer et al’s research, published in this edition of Annals, identified four features of organizational culture that correlate with high clinician trust in the organization and high patient trust in the clinicians: quality; communication and information; clinician cohesion; and clinician-leader value alignment. Organizations that build trust among physicians may have happier clinicians and more satisfied patients, according to Lin. Lin also responds to Beach et al’s findings that clinicians were less likely to give patients opportunities to elaborate on emotions as clinic time elapsed. Other papers in this edition of Annals discuss the tension of competing priorities between independent physicians and clinicians who work in larger health care organizations.

Implications

• Lin suggests that patients and doctors alike will benefit from promoting doctor-patient relationships and trust, while also providing physicians and other health professionals with the support of a larger medical system.