This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Jacobs, A. K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Jacobs, A. K. Related Collections Other Ethics and Policy AHA Statements and Guidelines

(Circulation. 2005;111:3494-3498.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Special Reports

Rebuilding an Enduring Trust in Medicine

A Global Mandate: Presidential Address American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2004

Alice K. Jacobs, MD

From the American Heart Association.

Correspondence to Alice K. Jacobs, MD, President, American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX 75231.

Key Words: ethics • trust • delivery of health care

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Each year we gather at these Sessions, the world’s largest meeting of scientists and healthcare professionals dedicated to the basic, clinical, and population science of cardiovascular disease and stroke. We gather to learn and to teach, to meet today’s experts and tomorrow’s leaders, to review the new scientific discoveries, and to exchange ideas with colleagues and friends.

To be sure, we will learn about the emerging science and clinical practice of cardiovascular disease over the next four days. But there is an internal disease of the heart that confronts us as scientists, as physicians, and as healthcare professionals. It is a threat to us all—insidious and pervasive—and one that we unknowingly may spread. This threat is one of the most critical issues facing our profession today. How we address this problem will shape the future of medical care.

This issue is the erosion of trust.

Lack of trust is a barrier between our intellectual renewal and our ability to deliver this new knowledge to our research labs, to our offices, to the bedside of our patients, and to the public. Trust is a vital, unseen, and essential element in diagnosis, treatment, and healing. So it is fundamental that we understand what it is, why it’s important in medicine, its recent decline, and what we can all do to rebuild trust in our profession. Trust is intrinsic to the relationship between citizens around the world and the institutions that serve their needs: government, education, business, religion, and, most certainly, medicine.

Albert . . . [Full Text of this Article]