How to advocate in environment of declining trust

by Chady Sarraf, MD —

For decades, medical decisions have rested on a shared understanding: Care should be guided by evidence, clinical expertise and patient values. Today, that foundation is increasingly challenged. From exam rooms to legislative chambers, advocating for evidence-based medicine has become both harder — and more essential — than ever. That’s why MSSC’s first membership meeting of this year, on Feb. 3 at the Wichita Advanced Learning Library, will focus on how to advocate to both patients and policymakers. I hope you will join me there.

A changing landscape

Physicians now practice in an environment flooded with information but marked by declining trust. Social media and online platforms can spread medical claims faster than peer-reviewed science, often without regard for accuracy. Many patients arrive with strong beliefs shaped by anecdotes, influencers or misinformation rather than scientific consensus.

These forces also influence policymakers. Health policy debates are increasingly shaped by ideology, skepticism of institutions and organized misinformation. Evidence that once carried authority may now be dismissed as biased or disconnected from lived experience.

The result is growing frustration for clinicians: more time correcting myths, strained patient relationships, moral distress and policies that conflict with established medical science.

Why advocacy feels harder Several factors drive this shift:

• Erosion of institutional trust. Declining confidence in science and medicine makes expert guidance easier to challenge.
• Emotion over data. Personal stories often resonate more than statistics, even when misleading.
• Information overload. Patients struggle to separate credible sources from persuasive misinformation.
• Politicization of health. Issues like vaccines and public health measures have become cultural flash points rather than clinical discussions. Recognizing these realities is essential – not to dilute stan-dards but to adapt how evidence is communicated.

Practical strategies

While no approach works universally, these strategies can help physicians advocate more effectively at the bedside:

• Start with curiosity, not correction. Ask open-ended questions to understand what patients have heard and why it resonates with them.
• Acknowledge emotions before evidence. Validating concerns builds trust and reduces defensiveness, creating space for meaningful dialogue.
• Use clear, plain language. Simple explanations, analogies and visuals often communicate evidence more effectively than technical detail.
• Explain your recommendation and your reasoning. Shar-ing how you weigh risks and benefits reinforces your role as a trusted clinical guide.
• Offer credible resources proactively. Direct patients to reliable organizations rather than leaving them to navigate information alone.
• Accept incremental progress. Success may mean maintaining trust or planting a seed – not immediate agreement.

Beyond the exam room

Advocacy for evidence-based medicine must extend beyond individual patient encounters. Physicians have a critical role in shaping public discourse through professional societies, community engage-ment and direct communication with policymakers. In the absence of trusted medical voices, misinformation quickly fills the gap.

Policymakers, much like our patients, are not experts in health-care policy or evidence-based practice. They are often required to legislate using limited time and imperfect information. Organizations such as MSSC and the Kansas Medical Society provide nonpartisan, evidence-based guidance to state legislators and elected officials in Washington, D.C., helping ensure that health policy is informed by science rather than ideology.

Effective advocacy today also requires translating evidence into human terms, clearly explaining not only what science shows but why it matters for patients, families and communities.

Moving forward

The challenge of advocating for evidence-based medicine is unlikely to disappear. Yet physicians remain uniquely positioned to counter misinformation through credibility, compassion and con-sistent engagement.

In an era where facts alone are often insufficient, how we communicate science matters as much as science itself. By adapting our approach while holding firm to evidence-based principles, we can continue to guide both patients and policymakers toward deci-sions grounded in knowledge and trust.