The Importance of Trust Between Patients and Professionals – Ayesha Hoosain

This image represents the start of the relationship between the patient and the health care professional. The people sitting in the waiting room indicates the long periods of time they have to wait until they are tended to. The light seen approaching from a distance signifies the ease and clarity meant to be felt when the professionals are finally able to see the patient but is not necessarily the case.

The waiting room of a hospital houses emotions such as fear, anxiety and dread. Patients are worried about their conditions, about being in a place where they can contract an illness and about the meeting with the health professionals. The long period of waiting before they are helped makes them even more apprehensive about being in a hospital. In this time, patients may progressively start to lose faith and trust in the care that is supposed to be provided by the hospital as it seems that they are not cared for. The quality of the relationship between the professional and the patient can affect the quality of their treatment. If the patient does not trust the professionals and believe in what the professionals say, they could be less likely to adhere to the course of treatment, whether it is taking medication or going for therapy sessions. In terms of receiving physiotherapy, if the patient does receive any at all, the patient may not follow the treatment plan set out, may not do the exercises that are required to be done independently and may not believe that it will work at all. This could ultimately prolong and/or worsen their condition.

Between 71%-76% of the South African population uses public health care facilities which means that more than half of the population are at risk of being among those who do not trust the health care system (Pretorius, 2018). The underlying reason for patients having to wait for this long period before being seen by a professional is the ratio of patients to professionals in South Africa’s public health system. Research done in 2018 indicated that for every 2,457 patients without medical aid there is just 1 government-employed doctor (Skosana, 2018). This can be attributed to the improper distribution of health professionals and the misuse of money. The struggling health care system then leads to mistrust between the system and the patients.

““Without trust, you can’t really heal,” says Dr. Sylvia Cruess, a professor of medicine at McGill University’s Centre for Medical Education.” (Collier, 2012).

References:

Collier R. (2012). Professionalism: the importance of trust. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l’Association medicale canadienne, 184(13), 1455–1456. doi:10.1503/cmaj.109-4264

Skosana, I. (2018). Does one SA doctor treat 4,000 patients in public care, but fewer than 300 privately? Retrieved from https://africacheck.org/reports/does-one-sa-doctor-treat-over-4000-patients-in-public-care-but-less-than-300-privately/

Pretorius, L. (2018). Does SA’s private healthcare sector only serve 16% of the population? Retrieved from https://africacheck.org/reports/does-sas-private-healthcare-sector-only-provide-care-for-16-of-the-population/