Exploring patients’ trust toward general practitioners (GPs) during COVID-19 pandemic.

Trust is well recognized as a critical component of effective health system processes, as patient trust is known to influence satisfaction and other health-related behaviors. The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly affected healthcare organizations, leading to the need for reorganizing. Particularly, because of COVID-19 pandemic, patient/doctor exchanges have increasingly been mediated by digital technologies, thus leading to potential devaluation of patients trust toward the healthcare system. Therefore, exploring what determines and what foregoes trust in healthcare system is of paramount importance. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the role of digital technologies on patients’ trust toward general practitioners (GPs), during Covid-19 pandemic. Through a survey on 284 patients, we investigate the effect of digital technologies and fear for COVID-19 on patients’ trust toward general practitioners (GPs). Results show that whether the relationship with the GP takes place in the usual way (in person or by telephone) or using digital technologies, there is no significant relationship with trust.