When did patients become "clients"?

[woahmelly]

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.

[steelydanfan]

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

Patients are pretty much the last people to know what good care is, and thier families the second to last. Warm blankets, hot cocoa and unlimited visiting hours are probably high on the satisfaction scale, but I'd rather have a curt nurse who knows what to do when I'm bleeding/dyspneic/having chest pain. The two are not mutually exclusive, but if your nurse has 8 sick patients, something's got to give; and I know what I would vote for.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

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.

Sorry, you misunderstand; I am not criticizing the ratios and their implementation in California, but the way they are being implemented in private hospitals elsewhere. What I am seeing is, hospitals are reducing staff to comply with these ratios! Regardless of the fact that these are supposed to be minimum staffing levels! Here's an example from my own PACU; We have 4 theaters and a very poorly laid out recovery area. We have 3 RNs which, when all of us are on duty, is usually sufficient; problem is, we can't be on duty all the time! Besides, how can 1 RN split herself between 2 unconscious patients, or 2 post anaesthetic children? When we requested another sister, we were told that we're overstaffed!

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Ps, I like Steely Dan too...

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Ps, I like Steely Dan too...

Oh, you like them but don't even know my song. Fine, fine. W//e.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Oh, you like them but don't even know my song. Fine, fine. W//e.

As long as its not Cousin Dupree. Snicker

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

As long as its not Cousin Dupree. Snicker

OK. Now you got me at a loss. No idea who Cousin Dupree is.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

OK. Now you got me at a loss. No idea who Cousin Dupree is.

Never mind, just a joke. One of Steely Dan's clever, snide and funny songs. Your posts prove that your mind definitely has not turned to applesauce, and reveal no signs of dreary architecture in your soul...

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Oh, and by the way Erik, I do know your song, just been manymanymany years since I last heard it; I liked it then, and I like it now. I repeat, thanks for the link!

[Cul2]

Whether you call them patients, clients, customers, consumers -- is not the issue.

It's whether you regard them as partners in their treatment. It's whether you believe

in patient autonomy. It's whether you accept that fact that human beings have a

right to be wrong about how their bodies are treated -- and you have the obligation

to explain to them why they're wrong if they are and then let them make their own

decisions.

Some on this thread wrote that patients are the last people to know what good treatment is and their families are the next to last. How condescending. Face the facts. The world of knowledge is changing, and thiis blog is part of that change. Patients are much more savvy today than they were years ago because the medical profession is less able to keep information within the confines of their profession. Patients have access to the most updated research now and can present it to their caregivers. All this does not have to diminish the value of doctors and nurses, unless they take it personally and resent it. Caregivers still have the superior knowledge, the ability to judge the value of the information patients bring to them. But the world is changing. Call them patients, or call them clients or call them customers or call them consumers. But it's how you treat them that matters.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Whether you call them patients, clients, customers, consumers -- is not the issue.

It's whether you regard them as partners in their treatment. It's whether you believe

in patient autonomy. It's whether you accept that fact that human beings have a

right to be wrong about how their bodies are treated -- and you have the obligation

to explain to them why they're wrong if they are and then let them make their own

decisions.

Some on this thread wrote that patients are the last people to know what good treatment is and their families are the next to last. How condescending. Face the facts. The world of knowledge is changing, and thiis blog is part of that change. Patients are much more savvy today than they were years ago because the medical profession is less able to keep information within the confines of their profession. Patients have access to the most updated research now and can present it to their caregivers. All this does not have to diminish the value of doctors and nurses, unless they take it personally and resent it. Caregivers still have the superior knowledge, the ability to judge the value of the information patients bring to them. But the world is changing. Call them patients, or call them clients or call them customers or call them consumers. But it's how you treat them that matters.

My diabetic pt. who thinks it's perfectly fine for her blood glucose to be in the 300's and in fact eats to maintain that is a good example of the difference between what we know and what the general public knows.

Knowing the facts is only 10% of the battle.

[Cul2]

"My diabetic pt. who thinks it's perfectly fine for her blood glucose to be in the 300's and in fact eats to maintain that is a good example of the difference between what we know and what the general public knows. Knowing the facts is only 10% of the battle."

You consider that to be the standard for how diabetic patients behave and what they know? You consider that to be a "good example?" Don't you think that underestimates the intelligence of most people? People may not comply with what's best for them, for various reasons. But I think the average diabetic understands the basics of what they should and shouldn't be doing. You can try to reason with people. Present them with the facts. But people have free will and will do what they will do. All you can do is give them the benefit of what you know. It's frustrating to watch people make bad decisions, but what's the alternative? That's part of being human.