The state of the patient-physician relationship has dwindled over the past several years, according to The Huffington Post.
Here are five things to know:
1. A 2012 survey conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston found that 34 percent of U.S. adults said they had “great confidence in the leaders of the medical profession,” a significant drop from 76 percent in 1966.
2. A 2015 study from ZocDoc found 30 percent of women and 23 percent of men have lied to their physicians through omission, most often in response questions relating to diet and fitness routines and smoking and alcohol use, due to embarrassment or time constraints.
3. A 2001 study at the University of South Carolina in Columbia found that primary care patients had only 12 seconds to speak before being interrupted by their physician.
4. More and more medical schools have started to incorporate the physician-patient relationship into the curriculum. Emory University Medical Center in Atlanta, Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and Stony Brook (N.Y.) University School of Medicine offer training in “medical humanism.”
5. Studies show that a positive physician-patient relationship can have significant effects on health outcomes like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, pulmonary infections and osteoarthritis pain. Research also shows that when healthcare workers treat patients with compassion, they often have lower blood pressure, less pain and anxiety and even heal faster.