According to recent studies, levels of burnout are decreasing among physicians. The improvement is likely a result of employers making a concerted effort to ease administrative burdens, offer schedule flexibility, and provide physicians with more support. However, by some accounts, one of the most treasured aspects of the job — the doctor-patient relationship — is experiencing a degradation of trust. It’s too soon to tell how this might impact burnout, but industry leaders are working to better understand what’s causing the breach of trust and what can be done to restore it.
Recent research points to the importance of the doctor-patient relationship. In the joint study from Jackson Physician Search and LocumTenens.com, Is Medicine Still a Calling? Exploring Physician Attitudes About Purpose in Medicine, nearly half (49%) of respondents said patient interactions were the most meaningful aspect of the job. When asked what keeps them going in challenging moments, 46% said “time with patients.” But what happens when those interactions become the primary source of stress? As public trust in the healthcare system as a whole deteriorates, physicians may find their individual relationships with patients under strain as well. Repairing system-level trust will take high-level changes, but is there anything individual physicians and advanced practice providers can do to ease growing tensions in one-on-one settings?
The Trust Crisis Revealed
A session at the MGMA Leaders Conference this past September shed light on the current situation, underscoring what many physician leaders already know: the relationship between patients and providers is under unprecedented strain. This fracture threatens not just individual patient outcomes, but the very foundation of effective healthcare delivery.
A comprehensive national survey, Fixing the Fracture: Restoring Patient Trust, conducted by AMF Media Group in partnership with MGMA, involved 2,400 adults from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and examined where and why trust breaks down in today’s healthcare system. The findings paint a complex picture that challenges some common assumptions while confirming troubling trends.
Physicians and APPs can take comfort in the knowledge that the primary drivers of declining trust aren’t providers themselves. Respondents identified insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and government influence as the major contributors to the erosion of confidence in the healthcare system. This distinction matters profoundly for practicing physicians. While macro-level institutional failures create the backdrop of distrust, individual providers remain the most credible messengers in healthcare. So, while physicians didn’t cause the fracture, they may be the only ones who can repair it.
What Enhances Trust, What Breaks It
The survey revealed that patients fundamentally want care providers who demonstrate empathy and treat them as individuals, not case numbers. Cultural relatability emerged as particularly important, especially for Black and Hispanic patients. Trust flourishes when patients feel seen, heard, and understood within their unique contexts.
However, trust can be shattered in seemingly small moments. Consider the unintended consequences of patient portals: when patients access lab or imaging results before discussing them with their physician, the lack of context can cause unnecessary distress and erode trust. What appears to be transparency, without the crucial element of care and explanation, becomes a trust liability rather than an asset.
The behaviors that signal broken trust are increasingly visible in practice settings. Patients may become openly hostile toward medical recommendations, particularly around vaccinations and preventive care. They might seek information from social media rather than their providers, or actively conceal their use of unproven treatments. Conversely, trust repair begins when physicians engage in honest conversations and make time to explain their evidence-based recommendations.
The Amplified Rural Challenge
The trust crisis takes on additional dimensions in rural communities, where physician shortages intersect with rampant health misinformation. In sparsely populated areas, conspiracy theories about healthcare often fill the vacuum created by the lack of accessible doctors. Rural physicians face unique pressures as they navigate communities where political division increasingly shapes health attitudes.
A recent piece from NPR highlights the story of Dr. Banu Symington, one of only five full-time oncologists in Wyoming. She describes patients cursing at her for suggesting masks, vaccines, and other basic safety recommendations. These aren’t isolated incidents but representative of broader challenges. Misinformation spreads readily in rural areas. Symington recounts distributing sunscreen samples at a county fair where a woman refused, claiming doctors put cancer-causing chemicals in sunscreen to enrich themselves.
The consequences are serious. Symington recounts a leukemia patient who refused vaccination and died of COVID, still believing the disease was a manufactured political fiction. The tragedy compounds as rural areas struggle to recruit physicians who are willing to face such hostility. Foreign-born physicians, who comprise half the country’s oncology workforce, increasingly avoid rural placements amid restrictive immigration policies and unwelcoming atmospheres.
Rural physicians must focus on building deep community relationships and finding diplomatic ways to navigate health conversations in politically charged environments.
What Individual Physicians Can Do
While systemic factors are driving much of the trust crisis, individual physicians hold significant power to rebuild confidence through daily interactions. The path forward requires several key strategies.
- Acknowledge the tension without becoming defensive. Patients may arrive at appointments carrying frustration about wait times, insurance issues, pharmaceutical costs, and conflicting health information. Providers must serve as a sounding board for patients navigating these complex systems, even when they can’t directly control insurance or pharmaceutical decisions.
- Prioritize communication quality over speed. In an era of packed schedules and productivity pressures, taking time to explain results with empathy and ensure genuine understanding becomes a trust-building investment. This might mean scheduling follow-up conversations to discuss concerning test results rather than relying solely on portal messages.
- Meet patients where they are. When patients express skepticism about vaccines or other evidence-based treatments, responding with judgment or dismissiveness only reinforces distrust. Instead, use multiple touchpoints to maintain dialogue, acknowledge their concerns, and provide personalized information that addresses specific fears or misconceptions.
The Path Forward
Rebuilding patient trust requires sustained effort at both institutional and individual levels. Healthcare organizations must address the macro factors — insurance complexity, cost transparency, and system navigation — that create the environment of distrust. But individual physicians remain uniquely positioned to bridge the gap through authentic, empathetic relationships built one patient interaction at a time.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Trust isn’t merely a nice-to-have quality that makes practice more pleasant. It’s the essential foundation for effective diagnosis, treatment adherence, and positive health outcomes. When trust fractures, patients delay needed care, avoid preventive services, and sometimes choose dangerous alternatives.
As physician recruiters at Jackson Physician Search, we recognize that modern recruitment must account for these trust dynamics. Physicians need not only clinical excellence but also exceptional communication skills, cultural competence, and resilience to navigate increasingly complex patient relationships. The practices that will thrive are those that prioritize these skills and create environments where physicians have adequate time and resources to build genuine trust with every patient.
The trust crisis in healthcare is serious, but it isn’t insurmountable. By understanding its roots, recognizing its manifestations, and committing to patient-centered care even in challenging circumstances, individual physicians can be the healers not just of bodies, but of the healthcare system itself.
If you are seeking a new physician job, the recruitment team at Jackson Physician Search will actively work with you to find a career opportunity that meets your needs. Reach out today to tell us what you are looking for, or start your online physician job search now.
