“Don’t be mean.”

That advice might be seen as unnecessary for most doctor-patient relationships, but not for treating patients with substance use disorder (SUD), especially pregnant patients, according to Cara Poland, MD, MEd, of Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in East Lansing.

“The bar is really low in addiction,” she recently said during a  Manatt webinar on improving access to pregnancy and postpartum care for patients with opioid use disorder. “You just have to not be mean, because so many of these patients, because of their past experiences with the healthcare system — they’re expecting us to not treat them nicely, not treat them well.”

Read more: Kindness a Key Component of Treating Pregnant Patients With SUD, Experts Say | MedPage Today