Blacks mistrust health care system – study

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Black Americans are more likely than
whites to distrust the health care system, in part because a
lack of insurance forces them into emergency rooms or clinics
where they build up no rapport with doctors and nurses,
researchers said on Monday.

A national survey of 432 blacks and 522 whites found the
former “were significantly more likely than whites to report
low trust in health care providers,” wrote Chanita Hughes
Halbert of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and
colleagues.

The survey found low levels of trust among nearly 45
percent of blacks compared to 33.5 percent of whites. Trust is
important, the researchers said, because it influences the
degree to which patients follow doctors’ orders.

The lowest level of trust among blacks was found in those
who sought care somewhere other than in a doctor’s office,
according to the survey, published in the Archives of Internal
Medicine.

“The interpersonal relationship between patients and health
care providers is a critical component of patient trust,”
Hughes Halbert and colleagues wrote.

They said it was possible the “environmental
characteristics of hospital emergency departments,” known for
their frequent shift changes and harried staff, may interfere
with doctor-patient relationships.

The survey did not find the race of the health care
providers was a factor in the distrust found among black
Americans.

“This suggests that increased access to health care in
settings where there is greater opportunity to develop
effective interpersonal relationships with providers,
regardless of the provider’s racial or ethnic background, may
improve trust,” the report reads.

But getting access to those more personal and private
settings is a significant challenge for blacks because they are
less likely than whites to have insurance coverage and more
likely to rely on public programs.

Training designed to improve communication with patients
may be needed for providers to help both black and white
patients, the report concluded, but it may be especially
important to focus such efforts on those working in settings
more likely to be used by black patients.

The survey figures did not list a margin of error.