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For the last few years, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has been struggling with attacks on its own credibility. "Quite frankly, we were mystified," said the ABIM's president and CEO. "The attack … became a more generic attack on the integrity and legitimacy of the organization itself. As we tried to understand how that could have happened, we came to realize that we had lost the trust of our diplomates; we had been distant from them," he continued. "We didn't think about the importance of being connected to the community we served." "We came to realize that many healthcare organizations were relying on their expertise and thinking that would give them their legitimacy, and that something had changed in the world, in the way people thought about expertise and the way they thought about legitimacy. We said, 'You know, if we can help create models for organizations to think explicitly about trust before they wind up losing it, we could help people get ahead of something that could wind up being damaging to healthcare and to patients.” Their Trust Practice Challenge, tries to "identify and promote existing practices that have helped build or rebuild trust in various aspects of the health care system." The challenge gives awards to organizations that have implemented projects to rebuild trust between the organization itself and different constituencies. The ABIM's Foundation is a $70 million foundation "give or take," and it spends 4.5% to 5% of its endowment -- $3 million to $3.5 million -- each year, "and pretty much all the work we're doing now is focused on trust.” The five Leader Index behaviors used by effective leaders are not rocket science: Show appreciation. "I appreciate you; thank you for your work today with patient and this family." Effective leaders give appreciation and recognition in the form of intrinsic motivators and rewards. Communicate transparently. Does he or she open the books and share everything that's not confidential, so the team can work together? Welcome everyone's ideas. Effective leaders say, "'I am interested in your ideas. What do you think we should do? Let's figure this out together." Express interest in employees' careers. Effective leaders ask, "What do you want to be doing in your future and how can we help your dream come true?" Promote genuine inclusion. "Does the leader of your group or team make sure everybody feels welcome, included and respected regardless of gender, ethnicity, or culture?" The Leadership Index evaluation is part of an anonymous survey all employees get every fall that asks about Mayo's culture, quality, leaders, and morale. There are 12 questions on the survey that relate to those five behaviors, and each has a 5-point scale, for a total high score of 60 points. This idea of cultivating trust among a health system's employees is but one of the problems in which front-line clinicians -- many of whom used to be in independent practice and now may have become employees -- lack trust for the institutions in which they work. "We heard that a lot,” it was reported. ____________________________________ Source: https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/generalprofessionalissues/84616