The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is a nonprofit membership organization that establishes standards for internal medicine specialists. Founded in 1936, ABIM has certified more than 200,000 physicians, including 25 percent of all physicians in the United States.
In 1989, ABIM created the ABIM Foundation, which functions as a charity organization to support and implement initiatives that advance the quality of medical care. The ABIM Foundation has launched a special initiative called Building Trust.
Building Trust focuses on trust as a crucial tenet of healthcare quality. The program highlights the importance of trust through the promotion of leadership skills, best practices, and research projects. Multiple organizations participate in the initiative. For example, AcademyHealth is collaborating with the ABIM Foundation to launch research studies that explore trust topics in health care.
According to the program, trust is characterized by four key dimensions: competency, caring, communication, and comfort. Healthcare organizations and physicians can improve these four C’s to boost patient trust.
Patient trust depends on competent services that align with expectations and result in positive outcomes. Physicians need to behave in a caring manner to show their empathetic attitude. Additionally, they must respectfully communicate with patients. Comfort and safety also nurture patient trust.
Building Trust also champions diversity and inclusion in medical education. Alongside the ABIM Foundation, the Academic Alliance for Internal Medicine and the American College of Physicians are cooperating to reform internal medicine education as an inclusive and equitable experience for all.
To create a more trustworthy healthcare environment, Building Trust organizes events and webinars to investigate trust-building activities. The Trusting Conversations webinar series showcases experts and their approach to building trust in their organizations. Topics include the effect of COVID-19 on trust in the patient-physician relationship and between the public and healthcare institutions.
In 2019, the ABIM Foundation held its inaugural Trust Practice Challenge to create a compendium of trust-building measures that can be implemented in healthcare settings. The challenge’s eight winners included Mayo Clinic’s Leader Index and Hawaii Pacific Health’s Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff. While the former identified positive leadership skills, the latter helped clinical staff members refine the electronic health record system.
The Building Trust initiative brings together many collaborators, including patient advocacy organizations and professional associations. In June 2021, the ABIM Foundation selected WorkWell as a collaborator on Building Trust. An American Physical Therapy Association practice, WorkWell provides various industries with evidence-based education and training services to reduce workplace injuries.
Designed by certified physical therapists, WorkWell’s safety programs address workplace risks and create interventions to protect employees from musculoskeletal injury. By promoting workplace safety, WorkWell builds and restores trust in organizations. Further, WorkWell’s therapists manage onsite clinics to promptly treat employee complaints and boost productivity.
Employer services include post-injury testing for employees returning to work. This service ensures a safe transition from home to the workplace through assessments such as functional capacity evaluations and fit-for-duty screenings.
WorkWell’s onsite services exemplify the principles behind Building Trust. Therapists help employees receive the medical care they need, and thus, foster a trustworthy relationship between patients and physicians, and between employees and employers.
