Matthew Gillogly explains how clinicians can build rapport with two types of patients: those who distrust doctors because they've researched online, and those intimidated by medical authority. The key is showing your humanity to earn their trust.
Chapters
When it comes to building rapport, you have to realize that your patient falls into 2 very distinct categories. One is they don't trust you. Those are the people that walk in with the printouts from Dr. Google or WebMD, and they're telling you how they want you to treat them. They don't want your opinion. They want to come in and tell you how their care should be taken care of. The second group of people are the people that are a little bit in awe of you, the people that are a little bit slightly intimidated by you. That fear that they have of you is not know, like, and trust. And so what you have to do is you have to be viewed as human by them.