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Too much medicine: not enough trust?

cam.issuedOnline2018-10-26
dc.contributor.authorFritz, Zoë
dc.contributor.authorHolton, Richard
dc.contributor.orcidFritz, Zoë [0000-0001-9403-409X]
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-04T00:30:25Z
dc.date.available2018-12-04T00:30:25Z
dc.date.issued2019-01
dc.description.abstractAs many studies around the theme of 'too much medicine' attest, investigations are being ordered with increasing frequency; similarly the threshold for providing treatment has lowered. Our contention is that trust (or lack of it) is a significant factor in influencing this, and that understanding the relationship between trust and investigations and treatments will help clinicians and policymakers ensure ethical decisions are more consistently made. Drawing on the philosophical literature, we investigate the nature of trust in the patient-doctor relationship, arguing that at its core it involves a transfer of discretion. We show that there is substantial empirical support for the idea that more trust will reduce the problem of too much medicine. We then investigate ways in which trust can be built, concentrating on issues of questioning, of acknowledging uncertainty and of shouldering responsibility for it. We argue that offering investigations or treatments as a way of generating trust may itself be an untrustworthy way of proceeding, and that healthcare systems should provide the institutional support for facilitating continuity, questioning and the entrusting of uncertainty.
dc.format.mediumPrint-Electronic
dc.identifier.doi10.17863/CAM.33552
dc.identifier.eissn1473-4257
dc.identifier.issn0306-6800
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/286239
dc.languageeng
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherBMJ
dc.publisher.urlhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2018-104866
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectallocation of healthcare resources
dc.subjectautonomy
dc.subjectclinical ethics
dc.subjectphilosophy of medicine
dc.subjecttruth disclosure
dc.subjectHumans
dc.subjectMedical Overuse
dc.subjectMedicine
dc.subjectPhysician-Patient Relations
dc.subjectTrust
dc.subjectUnnecessary Procedures
dc.titleToo much medicine: not enough trust?
dc.typeArticle
dcterms.dateAccepted2018-09-16
prism.endingPage35
prism.issueIdentifier1
prism.publicationDate2019
prism.publicationNameJ Med Ethics
prism.startingPage31
prism.volume45
pubs.funder-project-idWellcome Trust (208213/Z/17/Z)
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2019-01
rioxxterms.licenseref.urihttp://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Review
rioxxterms.versionVoR
rioxxterms.versionofrecord10.1136/medethics-2018-104866

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