When did patients become "clients"?

Nurses General Nursing

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Allnurses, when was the first time you heard someone referred to as a client instead of a patient.

So, I'm starting an ASN program in August but I am taking pharmacology right now. I've noticed that instead of referring to people as patients most of the recently published books refer to them as clients.

To me, a client is someone with whom you have a business relationship and it implies that there is a significant customer service aspect to that relationship. It's a phrase I thought I would leave behind after leaving retail.

Specializes in Psych/CD/Medical/Emp Hlth/Staff ED.

The term was encouraged by the ANA to help patients feel empowered. Numerous surveys were done that showed patients found the term either to be confusing, or offensive.

A "client" is a participant in a financial relationship, a "patient" is a participant in a therapeutic relationship. Patients are paranoid enough about being seen as a source of income for a hospital without us calling them clients.

This is why the ANA reversed it's position in 2004, since then they have only endorsed the term in certain areas such as mental health and well-patient services.

Ha ha ha ha. Good luck getting anyone who knows the answer to this to confirm it.

I am going on record right now: I DO NOT KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS.:clown:

Just google it... the term is "johns"

"Clients" is a bs politically correct term for patients. I don't care what rationale you use to justify it, it's bs.

"Client" I can sorta tolerate. But I can't say "customer" without gagging. And it really messes with my internal mission statement. A patient is someone I feel a huge responsibility for, someone I would do almost anything to help. A customer? Not so much. To me a customer is someone who wants fries with his meal. I've served customers and I've taken care of patients and there is no comparison.

This customer thing is a new phenomenon. Of course, if administration were to really be honest they'd call them what they really think of them: "revenues" or maybe "$$ signs."

Hmmm.... "patients" sounds like "patience" to me. I wonder why. :D

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
Just google it... the term is "johns"

Google it.........thats too much work.

Rather just make jokes about it till someone else googles it for me.:smokin:

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
Hmmm.... "patients" sounds like "patience" to me. I wonder why. :D

I know why. Its cause of that old tongue twister:

She has the patience to wait on patients by the sea shore.

Specializes in Psych, EMS.
When I worked in LTC 30 yrs ago, we used the term "residents" to emphasize that we caregivers came into their home and needed to respectful as such. We had certainly had regulatory guidelines and MD orders to carry out, but bottom line, the facility was a home, a residence where people's personal space was to be respected.

When I was in home health 20 yrs ago, we used the term "clients", these were people who were well enough to be home, but invited our agency in to assist in completing recovery or maintaining their status quo. But when interacting with MDs, they insisted we use the term patients.

Now in acute care they are patients. They need to be, because of the prolonged stay in ED, prolonged waits for MDs to round, npo for what seems like days on end, waiting for meds from pharmacy, etc, etc.

I agree, it depends on the context, those 3 terms you mentioned were the most appropriate within the context of each specialty. I work in sub-acute psych, all patients voluntarily admit, and they pay over 1k/day. We call them patients, but in this case I think client would be more appropriate. In psych, especially sub-acute, I think the term "patient" is a bit pathologizing.

I know why. Its cause of that old tongue twister:

She has the patience to wait on patients by the sea shore.

Or the patients had the patience to wait by the sea shore.:)

My understanding of this is that the direction of health care these days is to involve people in their health care. It is moving away from us, the HCP's, having all the power and dictating what will be done to heal them. The word "patient" means "those who suffer in silence". Therefore "patient" is incompatible with the philosophy that people are equal partners in the relationship and the word "client" more accurately reflects the viewpoint that they are consumers who are the primary decision-makers.

Erik

And just WHERE did you come up with this definition? "Those who suffer in silence" : EGAD!

And when "clients" get to decide what "good" care is, I for one will be out the door. When demanding hot lattes, being able to tell me to come back later to do an a.m. exam and getting out of bed when THEY want to takes precedence over my being able to regulate thier post op recovery, then my work is no longer valued; and I have become a very high paid babysitter; who will STILL get sued when my client develops pneumonia, DVT's; throws a PE and dies!

Allnurses, when was the first time you heard someone referred to as a client instead of a patient.

So, I'm starting an ASN program in August but I am taking pharmacology right now. I've noticed that instead of referring to people as patients most of the recently published books refer to them as clients.

To me, a client is someone with whom you have a business relationship and it implies that there is a significant customer service aspect to that relationship. It's a phrase I thought I would leave behind after leaving retail.

well customer service has become a big part of nursing. hospitals are always trying to raise their patient/client satisfaction numbers. so we must remember that patients are paying for our services and deserve good customer service/patinet care

Unfortunately that is exactly what health care has become; example: Nurse/patient ratios were introduced to ensure a minimum basic staff complement for optimum patient care, in order to reduce the high mortality rate in certain California hospitals. These ratios have been jumped on by private facilities (which boast enormous profits), probably world wide, definitely in South Africa, as reasons to keep their staff ratios low. Our "clients" are lured in by clever advertising programmes, and of course by the scary information sporadically leaking out of our state hospitals. Health care facilities may be staffed by medics, nurses and paramedics of the highest moral and ethical principles, but management rarely subscribes to such principles. It's all about the money; very demoralizing.

Excuse me, but this example is wrong on so many levels as to be ludicrous. Nurse/patient ratios were FOUGHT for and won because of greedy, for profit hospitals scaling back on nursing staff to increase profit margins. Pt.s DIE because of this in EVERY state: the California Nurses Association was just the first to step up to the plate; fight for AND WIN mandated ratios. Since then, this fight for safe pt. care has spread to every other state and has been implemented in a few, the NNU is now fighting to make this a FEDERAL requirement; with the help of the bill's sponsor, the excellent Rep. Barbara Boxer, it will be the law of the land. And it is NOT being "jumped on" by private facilities; in fact every hospital in America is trying to thwart it every way they can.

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