10 Reasons We Have Trust Issues in Medicine

Trust is a big issue these days. The US trusting Iran. Patients trusting doctors. Readers trusting the validity of scientific publications. Patients and doctors trusting telemedicine. Trusting other members of your team. The worst career mistake you can make is to put your faith in any employer, function, or industry.

There are many ways to build trust, but like many things that take time to build, trust can evaporate instantly. Why is it we have trust issues in medicine?

1. Conflicts of interest due to more interaction between doctors and the medical industrial complex.

2. A general societal increase in distrust of institutions and some professions.

3. Political and economic polarity leading to suspicions and distrust

4. Demographic changes and cultural incompetence

5. Political demagoguing and rhetoric

6. It makes a good story for the media

7. An attitude that "if it's on the Internet it must be the truth"

8. An unwillingness to accept human faults and forgive them.

9. Seeing the world through lenses that reinforce bias or cynicism

10. A deterioration of the meaning of the doctor-patient relationship due to technology and patient empowerment.

We seem to live in a world of the Big Me. Society is one zero sum game. Getting to yes is about win-win. But, to most of medicine, it is looking more like getting what you want is win-lose.

There are many reasons to explain why a given innovation gets traction. One of the basic reasons why they do not is the users don't trust the products and services or the Wizards behind the curtain promoting them. Once you lose it, it is almost impossible to regain it so be sure you get it right and keep it right.