I think the biggest thing that makes a health care provider seem trustworthy is the ability to listen without judgment and provide information in a simple way. Most of the doctors at the practice I go to were very open to the questions I had and did not seem to pass any judgment with my questions. They were able to calm my nerves and really convey that they cared. And not just in the doctor/patient relationship, but they really seemed to try and understand how I was feeling, especially my nerves. I always left the doctors office feeling like I was prepared to go into childbirth. The time I felt untrustworthy was the first night in the hospital with the nurses. I was trying to breastfeed my baby at the 2:30/3:00 mark and she would not take the nipple. I called the nurse to ask what to do and she advised that if she didn’t want to feed at that moment it was fine and to let her sleep. When it was time for the next feeding, the shift change occurred and the new nurse came in and scolded me for not feeding her earlier. I tried to explain that the other nurse told me that I shouldn’t wake her but it didn’t matter – to the new nurse, I should have known. After that, it was hard to trust what was being told to me.
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The Community, Equity, Data, and Inclusion (CEDI) lab is a part of the College of Information at the University of Maryland.