A recent report from MasterControl delivers a sobering statistic: more than 8 in 10 physicians (82 percent) have questioned the quality or safety of the medical products they prescribe. For medical device engineers and designers, that figure should be a wake-up call. Trust — once lost — can be difficult to restore, and it is the foundation upon which the medical device industry ultimately succeeds.
Physicians sit at the front lines of patient care, where medical products meet human lives. When they doubt whether a device or drug will perform as intended, that doubt ripples outward to the broader healthcare ecosystem. The report makes clear that skepticism is based on not only by postmarket recalls and inconsistent product performance but also by concerns about research integrity, regulatory transparency, and patient misinformation.
For medtech innovators, this underscores the need for design processes rooted in transparency, traceability, and rigorous quality systems. It reminds industry that human factors extend into how products are perceived, trusted, and communicated about. It also highlights the opportunity for technologies such as artificial intelligence not only to support clinical decision-making but to strengthen quality assurance processes during development and manufacturing.
Engineers may not directly control public trust in regulatory agencies or media, but they do control how carefully they document, test, and validate designs. OEMs control how they partner with physicians to incorporate their feedback early and often. They control whether their work contributes to restoring confidence or erodes it further.
Importantly, this statistic is also a call to rethink collaboration across the healthcare continuum. Engineers, clinicians, regulators, and manufacturers must share a common language of quality and reliability through embracing more transparent postmarket surveillance, investing in clearer communication with end-users, or ensuring that physicians are included in product development. When doctors are confident in the devices they prescribe, they reinforce patient trust. That trust is ultimately what drives adoption, adherence, and improved outcomes.
In practical terms, that means making quality systems more visible, building in traceability from the earliest design stages, and proactively communicating product performance data. Small steps in these areas can make a measurable difference in physician confidence and, ultimately, in patient safety and satisfaction.
Sherrie Trigg
Editor and Director of Medical Content
To obtain a copy of the report, go here .
