How a Doctor Can Build Trust with Patients Online

Medical professionals need skills to diagnose and treat their patients, but they also need to do other things to be successful.

Doctors also need to generate trust. Because even if they’re skilled technically if they don’t have humanity, they may find it harder to attract and keep patients.

To generate trust, they could consider doing a few things online and in person.

Design attractive websites

Websites are the first way many of us learn about a person or a business.

Well-designed web pages provide valuable first impressions and could serve as valuable tools afterward. If a medical practice’s pages look bad, don’t offer any value, are difficult to use, or, if doctors don’t have websites, it could reflect poorly on them.

Spending money to hire professionals who design medical web pages could be a solid investment. Since they create websites for a living, they might be able to create online pages more quickly and efficiently than medical employees who are learning as they go.

Looks aren’t everything, but they do matter to web pages. If web pages catch readers’ attention and impress, they could make health care practices look good.

Make web pages usable and accessible

Pages should be more than attractive. They should be usable as well.

Medical practices could visit their sites to test whether their web pages are easy to navigate and their links work. The best-looking sites are worthless if they’re unusable.

Sites should be accessible to everyone. To help people with visual impairments, designers could add text descriptions to images. People with hearing impairments might like to read transcripts of podcasts that are posted on sites.

The best websites strive to serve everyone–and do.

Provide useful content

In addition to being accessible and usable, medical web pages should also contain large amounts of useful information.

Content is king on the internet, and doctors who provide content could rule the web.

This kind of useful information comes in many forms. For example, health care professionals could create a separate web page for every condition they treat. Each page could include facts about the condition and how their practices approach it.

Not only do these pages help patients, but they help doctors by building their websites. Larger sites look more authoritative. Since they have more information, they’re more likely to be mentioned in web searches and visited.

Use resources and ask for help

Good medical web pages often acknowledge others.

Even the most experienced doctors don’t know everything. Their positions require them to continue their education, and they learn a great deal on the job.

Their web pages should reflect this. A healthcare website’s content is even more reputable when it features content that includes links to other authoritative pages.

Reputable links demonstrate that doctors want to provide accurate, up-to-date information. They’re admitting that they don’t know things but are eager to learn them and share them with others.

Acknowledge reviews

Addressing patient reviews also shows a willingness to learn.

When doctors comment on positive patient reviews, they’re illustrating how they’re internet-savvy and concerned about their reputation. They’re being gracious by thanking people for their kind words.

Medical professionals might be even more gracious if they thank patients for negative reviews. It takes a big person to admit that they’re wrong.

Admitting their shortcomings, vowing to improve, and considering feedback could help doctors gain and keep the trust of current patients. It could help sway potential patients who are looking for a trustworthy medical provider.

Update frequently

Current web pages also make healthcare websites more helpful and reputable.

Medicine is a field of constant change. Patients might be curious about the conditions they hear about on the news, whether doctors know about them, and if they have, how they treat them.

One way to stay timely is by adding blogs to your medical website. Writing and posting frequent blog posts allows professionals to address current topics in a timely manner. Blog posts could also incorporate more emotion and opinion than pages that are intended to provide factual content.

But content pages aren’t static, either. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, medical offices and other entities have taken different approaches at different times to address safety. Their web pages could explain these approaches, including updates, and provide other information that helps people navigate changes and succeed.

Provide access to medical records

Websites aren’t the only digital way healthcare professionals can share information.

Many medical practices use electronic health records (EHRs), practice management systems, and other types of software to manage their operations. Patients might want to have access to these systems as well.

Allowing patients to see their medical records involves them in their care. They could see the procedures they’ve undergone, the medications they’re using, and what occurred during their office visits.

They could also use the information found in EHRs to work with their medical insurance providers or other medical professionals. When doctors allow patients to access and use the data found in their EHRs and other practice-related systems, they’re giving them agency and displaying trust.

Communicate openly

Honest and open communication is one of the best ways doctors could build and maintain trust. They could practice this communication in several ways.

On their websites, they could prominently include their contact information on each page. They could also add a separate web page that clearly explains how current and prospective patients could contact them. These options could include phone/text numbers, email information, mailing addresses, or links to online comment sections or forms.

Practice management and EHR systems also contain communication features. Medical practices could send messages through them and encourage patients to contact them as well.

They might want to designate an employee to handle questions about such services and other electronic concerns. This action could indicate that the doctors are aware of their patient's needs and are prepared to address them.