Recovering Patient Trust We Lost in the Pandemic

Abstract

The question of how to engender patient trust in a pandemic is not easy to answer, and yet it is a critical question that requires a convincing response. On March 14, 2020, the surgeon general of the United States called for a stop to elective procedures. Ultimately, that led us at Scripps Health to close some clinics to protect personal protective equipment supplies and then furlough staff because of the decrease in patient visits. It soon became evident, however, that patients needed our care more than ever, and we had to pivot to provide the services they needed-but in a very different way. Our team rose to the challenge and quickly redesigned the entire organizational approach to accelerate telehealth services for the convenience of our patients. In the process, we also targeted a patient outreach program to our high-risk patients, which turned out to be an important aspect of our COVID-19 patient care initiative.