Clients?

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2005

I believe it has to do with treating the patient/client as a customer. Someday we probably will actually call patients customers instead of patients or clients.

z's playa · Jan 31, 2005

We as a health care team offer services like any other business and the client pays for it one way or another (insurance, taxes).

The term Client has been drilled into our heads too. :uhoh3:

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jan 31, 2005

i don't hear the word "client" at work at all.

z's playa · Jan 31, 2005

i don't hear the word "client" at work at all.

I won't be calling them clients at work either. :)

Keepstanding, ASN, RN · Jan 31, 2005

It will not be what I call my patients. Client sounds so cold and business like.

What is wrong with the good old fashioned "Patient" term ? What will nurses be called in the future....Caregiver..?? still sounds cold. I am a NURSE ! I am what I am ! hehe :chuckle

Mystery5 · Jan 31, 2005

It's sort of a politically correct thing to do in response to the attitudes of the past when pts were expected to listen to Dr's orders, and docs would often not tell pts the truth about their diagnosis. I never hear it in the hospital, although when I worked in a nrsg home, we called them 'residents', not patients.

NeuroNP · Jan 31, 2005

You know, the idea of calling them clients I personally think is dumb, but the idea of TREATING them as customers is a good one. I try to remember to treat them as I would want my mother, father, sister etc treated, but the "customer serive" model isn't a bad one. Except in this case, the customer is NOT always right! :-)

Bryan

payday · Jan 31, 2005

Back in the early 80's when I was in a community college for adn, we charted and referred to them as HCC. Healthcare consumer. Thought it was gross. They were still patients to me.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2005

I always call my patients "patients", except when I'm writing papers.

I don't object to the word because it denotes a collaborative relationship between the patient and the nurse, rather than a dependent relationship of the patient on the nurse. However, I don't use it.

My job refers to them as "customers" and I hate that.

Nurse Ratched, RN · Jan 31, 2005

Inpatient has been patients everywhere I've been.

Outpatient (adult day care setting) we referred to them as clients.

LTC - we called them residents.

The most horrid term I have heard was "consumers" used in the MR/DD setting.

SmilingBluEyes · Jan 31, 2005

Heck in this environment of today, EVERYONE is our customer, patients are no different. sigh.

I call them PATIENTs myself.