A patient-physician relationship commences when a physician begins to serve a patient’s medical needs. The contexts that may lead to a patient-physician relationship vary: they generally occur as a response to a request by a patient or a patient’s surrogate, but can also include certain contractual, legally mandated, or emergency settings without the explicit request or consent of the patient.
While the patient-physician relationship may involve one patient and one physician in today’s complex health care system, such relationships often involve multiple members of a care team, patient family members and surrogates. The core values of the patient-physician relationship, however, remain unchanged. How these values are implemented will depend on many factors, including the setting, the needs of the patient, the duration of the relationship, and the training, expertise, and experience of the physician, and will necessarily reflect the myriad ways that patients and physicians interact. While every patient-physician relationship will be different and will change over time, the fundamental importance of establishing and sustaining trust through respect for persons, good communication, and professional competency will always be crucial at every layer, node, and time of the relationship. It is the duty of physicians, therefore, to uphold these values and support patients and the primacy of the patient-physician relationship to the best of their ability in all practice settings and at all times.