Trust Between Management and Physicians in Hospitals Trust: 1 a: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something; b: one in which confidence is placed; 2 a: dependence on something future or contingent - Merriam-Webster Online.

Do families of patients who are hospitalized for injuries or illness "trust" that their loved ones are getting the best possible care? Of course families do, in all cases, have an "assured reliance" (Merriam-Webster) on a doctor's "character, ability, strength [and] truth," when it comes to care-giving of family members. So, there can be no doubt: the element of trust has always been part of the medical community's pivotal responsibilities when it comes to care-giving to injured or ill citizens.

And meantime, if trust is indeed a "key element" in forging strong work relationships between doctors and administrators - with the good health and well-being of patients at risk, and with potential malpractice suits looming on the horizon - why, it's fair to ask, is so little known in the medical community about the ingredients that go into creating trust? This need for trust between the two groups would appear to be a no-brainer, a need that is so obvious it shocks the senses to realize that trust is so elusive. But according to the Melissa J. Succi research, systems for creating trust are not very often in place.

And while the Succi (et al.) research indicates that there is a dearth of information as to the ways and means of developing solid ties of...

Power, that magic word, apparently plays a key role in doctors' establishing a sense of trust with management.
As for administrators, their sense of trust with physicians, Succi asserts, boils down to one area - "cost/quality management." When alluding to costs of providing services to patients, therein lies a very important factor in running a hospital, and there is little doubt that administrators are keenly interested in keeping costs from rising out of sight. And since hospital administrators are "rewarded for conserving resources and containing hospital costs" and physicians are gaining credibility for offering ever-higher levels of care, Succi believes these two conflicting concepts create an erosion of trust.

So, if one accepts that there is a salient trust factor lacking, and that both administrators and doctors say they need more authority to run hospitals, the problem seems to be dichotomous: to wit, in her "Managerial Implications" section of the paper, Succi states that "Greater power and involvement in hospital decisions means that managers and physicians may spend less time in their areas of expertise," and they may, because of their new areas of responsibility, spend "more time in new and unfamiliar territories." Both groups want more power to run hospitals more efficiently, but by giving them addition power, they may not carry out their…