Organizational actions to tackle distrust: Building Trust Italy

Abstract

According to the Italian Code of Medical Deontology, the foundation of the care relationship is mutual trust and respect for each other's values and rights. To create mutual trust and respect, communication between care providers and patients must be skilled and appropriate, and the time spent communicating must be counted as time spent on care. In Italy, however, the National Health Service's organizations have drastically reduced the time available for care during the past several decades as a result of a policy aimed at controlling costs. Today, doctors and other healthcare professionals simply lack the time to create adequate care connections, resulting in widespread and growing mistrust of the care system among patients and their families. Vaccine hesitation during the Covid-19 pandemic, as defined by specialists as a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite the availability of vaccination services, was mostly attributable to a lack of trust in the healthcare system and scientific study. Slow Medicine ETS, an italian proactive movement of healthcare professional and citizen, following the example of the initiative "Building Trust" recently activated by the ABIM Foundation in the United States, launched a national initiative to promote and plan concrete actions to restore and consolidate people's trust in health professionals and organizations, in researchers, in scientific and rational approach to knowledge, and in its application to the improvement of health and quality of life. Slow Medicine ETS, which continues to successfully lead and support the "Choosing Wisely Italy" project, will assemble the national network for the new "Building Trust Italy" initiative.

Keywords

• Slow medicine; confidence; deontology; medical humanities; quality of care