How to Build a Trusting Relationship with a Patient

HCAHPS (the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is on everyone’s mind. A low or high score can impact a hospital’s marketability as well as its reimbursement rates. The relationship between a patient and a healthcare provider is central to this. It is also one of the most important determinants of the care a patient will receive. If patients trust their provider, they are more likely to be honest about their symptoms – which can lead to better care.¹

With most doctors only being able to spend an average of 15 minutes with a patient, exactlyhow can they build that trust?³Each patient is different and has different needs, so what skills can universally help to open communication? And, most importantly, how can these skills be taught and practiced effectively among all healthcare disciplines?

In this article, we address these questions and share how simulation can help to promote the development of trust-building skills.

Below is a list of behaviors that can be used to establish trust with patients.But before reading, imagine two alternatives for instilling these behaviors in your staff: on the job training versus simulation training. Simulation has been proven to deliver training more consistently, more efficiently, and more safely than on the job training.

Simulation is often regarded as one of the best training methods to teach healthcare providers hands-on clinical procedures and tasks. However,many of the skills required to build trust with patients can be taught using simulation as well.

Using standardized patients, who can mimic emotional and psychological displays, is one way to introduce skills related to listening, observing, and communicating. But, training can be taken one step further with the use of a full-bodied simulator, capable of receiving medical interventions.

Patients can become uncomfortable when things are being done "to them", especially when they don't understand the purpose or reason.Using a patient simulator can help healthcare providers to develop the necessary balance of providing explanations, keeping patients calm, and carefully performing clinical tasks at the same time.

This type of interactive training can foster strong communication habits that will lead to countless healthy and trusting patient-provider relationships.