Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today said that mistrust among patients about the medical system in Kashmir and healthcare providers working inside it is responsible for deteriorating doctor-patient relationship.
Terming trust as essential for the relationship, President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said that it has been broken and once revered doctor-patient relationship is on the rocks.
People are unhappy with the fragmented healthcare system and they have lost faith in it as it adds to their miseries and sufferings.
Unequal access to healthcare and commercialization of medicine turn a lot of people off.
People arrive at hospitals expecting all their needs to be met but they discover otherwise.
The success of medical care depends most importantly on patients’ trust which has been misplaced, shaken and violated.
Trust is the cornerstone and moral feature of doctor-patient relationship.
A recent study showed that patients are more satisfied and compliant if they trust their doctors.
Studies of the placebo effect suggest that Hippocrates was right when he claimed that faith in physician can help in healing.
Despite improvement in technology, patients are not satisfied because of decline in quality of interaction between doctors and patients.
Increasing data suggests that patients activated in medical encounter to ask questions and to participate in their care do better biologically, in quality of life and have higher satisfaction.
Mistrust precipitates medical disputes leading to patient resentment towards caregivers and physical and verbal attacks against doctors.
Instead of encouraging communication, policy responses include increased hospital security which inadvertently fuels distrust.
Doctors are trained to diagnose and treat disease while patients are interested in being tended to and being listened to and being well.
Failure to take into account patient concerns and expectations has created a gap between doctors and patients and the gap is widening at an alarming speed.
Mistrust responsible for deteriorating doctor-patient relationship: DAK
