why has the trend change so much? i am a student and i am realizing that even the older generations are using "client". why is this? was there an across the board change in patient title?
i feel like using "client" just makes it so impersonal and like i am working at a tax/lawyer/other "client" based system; as in being there for the money.
can a nurse still use the title of patient when addressing patient/clients? if not, why not? who decided it?
for the nurses that are out there in the "real" world, what do people prefer to be called? and what title do you use when referring to a patient?
Specializes in psychiatric nursing, med/surg adult care.
Nursing is service-oriented. Nurses are in the service of the sick referred to as the patient. Consumers who avail of services are called clients. Therefore, a patient can also be referred to as a client.
A sick person needing nursing/medical care is a patient.
Nurses do not just cater to sick people but to their families as well. Nurses also do health teachings and other services to well, healthy people. These people are the clients.
That's what I learned in nursing school.
But experience taught me that whatever you call your patients/clients, how you are to them as their nurse and how you put pride and dignity to your profession make all the difference.
We are being told that client is a more "PC" term to use. This is because of the shift to viewing the patient as a customer/consumer and the care we provide is customer service. Our instructors just tell us to call them either one. Client, customer, consumer - it all sounds so robotic and cold to me. We're supposed to provide holistic, individualized care after all!
NO,NO,NO I provide nursing care to my patients , I treat them as individuals in the manner I would wish to be treated myself , this latter may meet the concept of customer service , but it is something nurses have always done and does not take priority over nursing care !!
Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.
I am in hospice and I visit patients. When I was in homecare my patients were referred to as clients by the upper management and the marketing staff. I suppose it doesn't matter much what those folks call them because they have little contact with the patients or the families. My sense of it is this...if the person comes to you seeking some sort of health care then they are patients, if they come seeking some other service then they might well be accurately described as clients.
NO,NO,NO I provide nursing care to my patients , I treat them as individuals in the manner I would wish to be treated myself , this latter may meet the concept of customer service , but it is something nurses have always done and does not take priority over nursing care !!
Oh, I agree lol I'm just telling the OP the explanation I was given in NS as to why patients are now being called clients vs patients.
I'm in nursing school now and our instructors refer to "clients." It sounds odd to me because I've been a medical transcriptionist for more than a decade and any nurses and doctors I've ever taken dictation from always call the patients either "the patient" or "Mr. XYZ." I've always thought of patients as patients, even when it's ME that's the patient! Supposedly calling them "clients" is supposed to remind us to treat them well and not as just a disease or "the gallbladder in room 203," but I don't think that makes much sense. If you're a bad or mean caregiver, calling the person a "client" is not going to fix it or change you into a good, caring caregiver. I mean, I think if someone has a bad attitude toward patients, they're going to need to do more than give lip service to the "client" term to change their ways.
Anytime I've been in a hospital or clinic I've never thought of myself as a "client." It sounds ridiculous.
Sorry ZoeZ , my quoting you was not meant as an attack upon you , rather it was a response to what your instructors are teaching .
No worries! :) I understand. I think my instructor feels the same way but when we asked why our books kept saying client that's what she told us. I never even imagined that it would come to calling patients customers, it's sad really
I loved that answer = hookers have clients!!! Good one!!
I always call our "clients" patients!! Always. I don't care what the CEO says - he thinks this is only a business, but as a nurse, I know they are patients!
but as a nurse, I know they are patients!
tatara
102 Posts
Nursing is service-oriented. Nurses are in the service of the sick referred to as the patient. Consumers who avail of services are called clients. Therefore, a patient can also be referred to as a client.
A sick person needing nursing/medical care is a patient.
Nurses do not just cater to sick people but to their families as well. Nurses also do health teachings and other services to well, healthy people. These people are the clients.
That's what I learned in nursing school.
But experience taught me that whatever you call your patients/clients, how you are to them as their nurse and how you put pride and dignity to your profession make all the difference.