Patient trust is positively related to health outcomes, but there remain barriers to patient trust in physicians. This narrative study analyzed patient experiences and highlights barriers to patient trust underlying communication with physicians in acute care. Snowball sampling was used. Informants were 12 participants, in poor physical health, upon discharge from a 3-week hospitalization in an acute-care setting at an Israeli public general hospital. Two narrative interviews were conducted with each participant upon and after discharge. Findings suggest presurgery barriers to trust (lack of acknowledgment of patient’s crisis, underrating patient’s autonomy, and use of unique empathy) and postsurgery barriers to trust (lack of attentive listening, lack of medical professionalism, and delegitimization to patients’ self-alienation). Two common narrative identities emerged linking trust with self-worth. To build trust, physicians are called upon to extend their dedication from dedication to improve clinical outcomes to dedication to improve clinical outcomes and preserve patients’ self-worth.

In Islam, religious directives regarding death are derived from the Quran and Islamic tradition, but there is a variety of death rituals and practices, lived by Muslims across contexts and geographies. This narrative study explored the dynamics of death and bereavement resulting from COVID-19 death among religious Muslims in Israel. Narrative interviews were conducted with 32 religious Muslims ages 73–85. Findings suggest several absent death rituals in COVID-19 deaths (i.e., the physical and spiritual purification of the body, the shrouding of the body, the funeral, and the will). Theoretically, this study linked death from COVID-19 with patient-centered care, highlighting disenfranchised grief due to the clash of health authority guidelines with religious death practices. Methodologically, this narrative study voices the perspectives of elder religious Muslims in Israel. Practically, this study suggests ways to implement the cultural perspective in COVID-19 deaths and enable a healthy bereavement process.

This longitudinal nonheroic narrative study allows familiarity with personal and societal transitions in the self-identity of individuals with life-threatening cancer. The theoretical anchor is Bion’s container–contained theory. Five interviews with a terminally ill hospitalized male in his 30s were conducted along intervals of between 6 and 8 weeks, up to 2 months before his death. Data were analyzed using the selection mechanisms method. Findings provide insights about the hospitalization experience, his grief, and disenfranchised grief. A rigid mode of container–contained relationships with clinicians created disenfranchised grief. Reflection and coherence among self-identities lead to inner strength and emotional growth despite the body’s deterioration. Clinicians have a role in holistic identity transitions of individuals with cancer. Findings illuminate practical recommendations that clinicians may adopt to improve the experience of individuals suffering from cancer at the chronic and terminal phase of illness.

Communication of clinicians at the emergency department is a barrier to patient satisfaction due to lack of human connection, lack of control over the situation, low health literacy, deficient information, poor support at a time of uncertainty all affecting perceived quality of care. This explorative study tests drivers of patient satisfaction with communication of clinicians at the emergency department. The sample comprises 112 Americans from the New York greater area, who visited an emergency department in the past year. A conjoint-based experimental design was performed testing six messages in six categories. The categories encompass acknowledged aspects of communication with health providers enabling to compare among them when exploring communication at the ED by patient preferences. Respondents rated messages by the extent to which it drives their satisfaction with communication of clinicians at the emergency department. Based on the similarity of patients’ response patterns to each message, three significantly distinct mindsets of patient preferences regarding communication exchanges with clinicians at the emergency department emerged. Different conduct and communication messages drive the satisfaction of members of each mindset with the communication of clinicians at the emergency department. The strong performing messages for one mindset are irrelevant for members of other mindsets. Clinicians may identify the patient-belonging to a mindset and communicate using mindset-tailored messages. This novel strategy may enable clinicians to implement patient-centered communication, by mindset, promoting patient satisfaction and enabling clinicians to better cope with patients in the chaotic emergency department environment.