Exploring Patient-Provider Trust Among Individuals With End-Stage Renal Disease

Health disparities related to the provision of, and access to, healthcare in the United States are well documented across racial and ethnic groups. One area of particular interest to health disparities researchers has been solid organ transplantation. Both provider and patient behaviors are implicated as contributing to ethnic variance of medical care in kidney transplantation. This pilot study will explore the perceptions of trust among patients in the kidney transplant process at the Warren Magnuson Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health and at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. For sampling purposes the transplant process is defined as 1) patients currently on dialysis; 2) patients on the transplantation waiting list receiving dialysis; 3) patients on the transplantation waiting list not receiving dialysis; 4) patients newly transplanted (less than or equal to one year since transplantation) and 5) patients transplanted for greater than one year. Five dimensions contributing to trust have been identified in the literature: competence, compassion, control, communication and confidentiality. Face-to-face interviews to explore these five dimensions will include questions regarding demographic variables, the Trust in Physician Scale; the Trust in Nurse Scale, and the Patient Trust Scale. Results will be analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square for categorical comparison of means and multivariate analysis for differences between groups.