Restoring Doctor-Patient Trust to Curb Violence Against Doctors

Abstract

Violence against doctors is a global concern. Specifically, Chinese medical workers face severe violence on a large scale. According to a survey by the Chinese Hospital Association (CHA), on average, 27 violent incidents involving doctors occur in each Chinese hospital every year. Violence against doctors occurs for many reasons, and the most common is the loss of trust between the doctor and the patient, which worsens the doctor-patient relationship. We found that the loss of doctor-patient trust is attributed to changes in the doctor-patient relationship to a seller-buyer interaction. Patients have high expectations of medical technology, while effective communication between doctors and patients is lacking. Restoring doctor-patient trust could help reduce and reduce violence against doctors. The Chinese government should take effective measures to improve the doctor-patient relationship based on medical reform. Medical institutions and social networks should provide medical knowledge to common people and guide patients to establish reasonable expectations for treatment. Health departments should train physicians and patients in communication skills to improve the efficiency of communication between physicians and patients and restore patients’ trust in physicians.

Keywords:

• violence against doctors
• doctor-patient relationship
• communication between doctors and patients
• restoration of doctor-patient trust

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.