Published eLetters
If you would like to comment on this article, click on Submit a Response to This article, below. We welcome your input.
Jump to comment:
- Page navigation anchor for Author reply to Dr. Gruman's commentsAuthor reply to Dr. Gruman's commentsShow More
Your comments are much appreciated. As you illustrate on the blog site you reference, establishing a relationship of mutual trust when there are large differences in roles and experience can be challenging, requiring mutual respect, clear communication, and time (often in short supply). While some of the items in our scale fit well with the concept of the prepared patient (e.g., "let you know when there has been a major...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Author's responseAuthor's responseShow More
I appreciate the comments from Drs. Tarrant, Kramer and Stepanikova. The space limitations of the article did not allow me to do more than briefly mention the contributions of these investigators, and several others, to understanding the antecedents, consequences and processes of mutual trust in the doctor-patient relationship. Interested readers would do well to access their publications related to this topic.
...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Physician Trust in Patients: An Important Methodological ContributionPhysician Trust in Patients: An Important Methodological ContributionShow More
By developing a scale for measuring physician trust in a patient, Dr. David Thom and his colleagues make a much needed methodological contribution. The emphasis on the patient side of the health care process evident in health care research during recent decades has necessarily limited our attention to physician-level factors. Yet, physicians still are (and likely will always be) important clinical decision makers. Phy...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Does my clinician trust me? Depends....Does my clinician trust me? Depends....This is a beautifully constructed scale intended to address an aspect of the complex relationship between patients and clinicians that is rarely addressed and even more rarely measured. As a person who spends a lot of time as a patient (particularly now as I recover from stomach cancer) – and more time thinking and writing generally about the patient experience, this article sparked a couple of responses. First, it r...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.
- Page navigation anchor for A valuable tool that opens up possibilities for future researchA valuable tool that opens up possibilities for future researchShow More
Thom et al are to be commended for their work to develop a measure of physician trust in patients. The doctor-patient relationship is a reciprocal, two-way relationship; if we only study patient trust in physicians, we are missing part of the picture.
The authors argue that physician trust is important, and this should not be understated. Physician trust can impact on quality of care and patient outcomes. GPs...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Investigating Some Further Consequences of Physician Trust in Patients Using the New Thom et al. Physician Scale: A CommentaryInvestigating Some Further Consequences of Physician Trust in Patients Using the New Thom et al. Physician Scale: A CommentaryShow More
Thom et al. contribute a valuable new scale for assessing physicians’ trust in their patients. As the authors of this study aptly note, the level of trust between patients and physicians plays a vital role in the quality of their relationship. As numerous studies have documented, trust can impact important medical outcomes in a variety of ways. Yet, as the authors point out, our understanding of the physician “side” of...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Physician Trust in Patient MeasurePhysician Trust in Patient MeasureShow More
This carefully constructed measure fills a gap in the measurement of mutual trust and serves as an aid to practice-based researchers interested in examining doctor-patient communication and relationships. The availability of this new measure makes it possible to study mutual trust, patient outcomes of care and physician satisfaction in the same context. What makes this measure particularly attractive is the way in which...
Competing Interests: None declared.