Dimensions of Trust in Polarizing Times: Perspectives of the Clinician, Philosopher, and Psychologist

Abstract: In an increasingly divided world, what drives trust or its absence? Trust is central to the patient-healthcare provider relationship. The COVID pandemic further eroded the already fragile trust in the medical community. We will explore various disciplines’ approaches to trust as a fundamental tenet of patient care. We aim to provide a novel multidisciplinary perspective. Attendees will gain insight on methods to approach an increasingly common clinical challenge.
Speaker 1: The clinician will reflect on bedside experiences where lack of trust on the interpersonal, institutional and systemic levels created a tense clinical conundrum. The speaker will examine how the team navigated respecting the autonomous decision-making of the family with beneficence for the patient in the face of mistrust.
Speaker 2: The philosopher will discuss the concept of trust as a matter not only of rational reliance on the clinician’s skills but also of a belief that the clinician has the patient’s best interests at heart. Trust is a second-personal relationship: in contrast to mere rational reliance, the patient justifiably believes that the clinician owes the patient a commitment to the patient’s best interests.
Speaker 3: The behavioral scientist will analyze the case through the lens of interpersonal trust, as it is studied in psychology and organizational behavior. The speaker will examine how the context and the medical team’s decisions may have influenced the patient’s judgments of the team’s benevolence, integrity, and ability. She will also discuss how these judgments can be improved, and thus trust can be recovered, over time.

Keywords: Trust, Mistrust in Science and the Physician