[CyndieRN2007]

Patient.

[Medic04]

I say patient, BUT customer serv calls them customers or clients .

[bethin]

Patient, or in LTC resident.

I've been a patient several times and I do not want to be referred to as a client. Lawyers, stockbrokers, etc use the term client. Seems very impersonal to be called a client when I'm getting a colonscopy. You're seeing the most personal side of me and you call me a client? What, am I a side of beef?

[nuangel1]

for me it will always be patient.i hate client.when i was hospitalized 3 times i was a patient

[wayunderpaid]

I heard somewhere that there is a movement from the bigwigs to go back to the "patient" idea. Guess the public did not like being called "clients". I think in a formal environment at school it is acceptable to refer to patients as clients. I also think that in an outpatient basis, it may be considered acceptable as well. After all, one can go to a well visit, therefore not sick.
Personally, I like patient.

[Semperdave]

To me the insurance companies can be clients, but the people I am caring for are patients or residents. Or if a patient is a self pay, then they can be both. Client for the business office, patient for the nursing staff. But beware, the term "CARE RECIPIENT" is just around the corner...

[Nightcrawler]

The term client has grown out of the striving of hospital administrations competing for healthcare dollars and shoving business language down all of our throats. Yes the patient is paying for their care, and they do have the ability to take their "business" elsewhere. That is a fact. I however want them to choose the services of my hospital because we provide the best care, whether or not that means that we are providing the best "customer service". There is a difference between the two. If I am working as a customer service representative, and providing services to my client then I will strive to make sure that they have their preferred foods provided for dinner regardless of what diet is ordered by their doctor. I will ensure that every client is in a private room, and that they get a good nights sleep regardless of whether their clinical condition requires hourly checks or vital signs.

If on the other hand I am a nurse, providing care to a patient. I will take appropriate actions to make sure that their clinical picture improves and that they are able to go home at the best possible level of functioning. If that means that my patient has a scheduled blood draw at 0200, or that they need to get up to a chair for meals when they would prefer to sit in the bed, then I will ensure that those things happen.

Providing medical treatment should not be a business, and I believe that our medical system is such a mess in part because we have let insurance companies and hospital administrators turn it into one. If administrators spent more time concentrating on good patient outcomes and advertising those, and less time paying attention to client feedback and client survey results, perhaps the patients will start seeing nurses less as waitresses and more as nursing professionals

Rant over[/color]

[Valanda]

I do some private pay private duty home care. I consider the ill person the patient and the parents or children who are paying the bill the clients! Now, isn't that confusing?

[suzy253]

I too learned 'client' in NS...but I say patient.

[MHarrah]

Interesting topic. When I was in nursing school (in 2005), the instructors and nursing students called them patients. The same went for when I began working at the hospital. I never heard the word client. Now that I'm working for a wellness company, they are always client NEVER the patient. But this is a unique type of nursing where I provide coaching and education over the phone to employees of companies that have paid for our wellness program services. So I think it is appropriate to call them clients. It's just my opinion, but I think that in the hospital setting, patient is the appropriate term. If I was admitted to a hospital, I would want to be called a patient. What are they going to do next....change it to "inclient" instead of "inpatient" ??haha.