5 Pillars of a Strong Patient-Physician Relationship

Fostering a healthy patient-physician relationship can promote positive patient outcomes. Here we reveal some tips to strengthen this vital relationship. Most of these traits are interconnected, making them even more crucial to patient care.

1. Credibility

• Credibility is often associated with credentials and training. However, it can also be cultivated through trustworthy, earnest, and knowledgeable sharing of medical information. This can be achieved by presenting the best possible care options tailored to your patient’s individual needs and promoting unbiased, quality care options. Patients expect clinicians to be aware of and use the newest guidelines and treatment options.

2. Trustworthiness

• Explain your thought process and give confirmation of what your diagnosis is and what the management options are. An example of this would be sharing atlas or textbook images of a rash and then reviewing treatment options. Another option is reviewing the patient’s results with them in more detail to let them know what was checked and normal.
• With testing, treatment, or procedure options, sharing risks as well as benefits then helping patients weigh their options can establish trust.
• Patients often like to know what decision their physician would make if in the patient’s circumstance or how their physician would treat a loved one. It is helpful to share these analogies with your patient.
• It is okay to be honest and disclose when you don’t know something or are not aware of information. In these circumstances, let your patient know that you will either do more research or direct them to someone who can answer their questions.
• Consistency in quality of care and follow-through are also important in building trust.
• Disclose any conflicts of interests you may have.

3. Responsibility

• Follow through on things that are supposed to be done for the patient.
• Adhering to personal and patient safety measures also illustrate responsibility. It not only stems from you but from your entire team.
• It’s okay to admit when you or someone on your team has made a mistake. Generally, there are clinic-specific guidelines and recommendations about how these situations should be navigated. When possible, you and your team should take responsibility to help navigate recovery from that mistake.
• Running behind schedule in a clinic or overscheduling is not the patient’s fault, yet it directly impacts their care. The responsibility is that of the administration’s and is often a complicated issue. Should this or any issue be impacting patient care, then the physician should bring forward the issue to administrators.
• Advocacy remains the responsibility of the physician.

4. Patient-centered care

• Removing bias and fostering empathy is important in centering care around the patient. Empathy can be strengthened by utilizing insight from various team members. For example, your receptionist or assistant may be able to offer more insight to the patient experience.
• Learn about your patient’s needs and values. For example, personal beliefs or life circumstances can impact the lens through which your patient makes decisions.
• Empower your patient through counseling. Teach them of their disease process and review treatment options.
• Delineate what is necessary, optional, or not helpful for your patient.
• Engage your patient to participate in their care through empowering their decision-making and management of disease. Sometimes it is even helpful to have a spouse or loved one assist the patient. If the patient defers decision making to you, then being empathetic to your patient’s values and needs will help you make a patient-centered decision.

5. Communication

• Both verbal and nonverbal communication are cornerstones of any relationship.
• As a physicians you can improve communication through facing toward your patient, listening to them, and using open-ended questions.
• Clearly outline short-term and long-term goals and how either the workup or treatment will help with milestone goals.
• Ask your patient to recall counseling and for feedback on your communication to gauge what methods or forms of communication they retained and understood, then fill in any gaps using the specific method of communication they can learn from.
• Patient handouts can be useful as are notes of easy to forget information. For example, names of medications or a list of action items are helpful for patients.