When did patients become "clients"?

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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 M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
Oh and PS, maybe it's just me, but don't prostitutes call the men they serve clients?

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:

Specializes in Public Health, TB.

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.

Specializes in CNA, Nursing Student.

When I took a&p my professor was a retired oncologist. He brought up the "patient" to "consumer/client" change and mentioned that it was one of the reasons he retired. His belief was that it was largely driven by the insurance companies desire to turn health care into a profit driven business.

In my neck of the woods, "client" is already old hat. Now we're required to call our patients "consumers." That just sounds so wrong. I don't understand what the problem is with "patient." I've been a patient, I work with patients, I believe in being a patient advocate. Hard to think of yourself as a 'consumer advocate." Smehow it cheapens the relationship and diminishes the job.

Haha. That just makes me think of lobbyists. Definitely not what I want to envision.

Specializes in PACU, OR.
When I took a&p my professor was a retired oncologist. He brought up the "patient" to "consumer/client" change and mentioned that it was one of the reasons he retired. His belief was that it was largely driven by the insurance companies desire to turn health care into a profit driven business.

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.

Specializes in ER, Med/Surg, PCU, CCU, Home Care CM.
I first heard this term in nursing school. I have another degree in pre-law, and it was common to refer to customers as clients, because that was precisely what they were. It bothered me a great deal to refer to my patients as clients. I am still trying to understand why this gets under my skin so badly, and I think I may have come to a conclusion. You are correct when you state that a client is someone with whom you have a business relationship with. To me, a patient is someone who requires a very intimate sort of care at the most vulnerable times in their lives. A patient trusts you as their nurse in ways that are unparalleled in any other aspect; thus finding it difficult to compare to another discipline of work. While it is true that we as nurses practice customer service throughout our work day, I believe that we do so in a more personal way. We don't walk out of our patient's room after shaking their hand, for example, but rather after holding their hand.

My feelings exactly. My patients are a sacred trust to me and I would not trade that relationship for a client relationship for anything. Clients are so easily forgotten, but patients.....never.

I heard "client" in nursing school. I have never heard it used at work. This is what I have heard:

people in hospitals=patients

people in nursing homes or residential facilities=residents

people in clinics= clients or out-patients

I'm not sure what home health nurses call the people they visit.

I like the world "client",to me it sounds more professional.When you are used to the word "patient" it makes it hard to adapt to the word client, but once you get used to the word client, you are going to like it :p

Dentists use the word "client" and most hospitals use the word "Patient"

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

People going to a ballgame are called "fans".

I like that one. Lets call our "clients" fans from now one. We are the nursing team, and they are our fans.

:yeah: And lets get paid like baseball/football/basketball players while we are at it. Yes, see, it all comes down to what you call your customers. Sports got it right calling them "fans". We will to now.

Can't figure out what's a good fit on the other end of a client-x relationship. A lawyer, I suppose. Seems that's where admin types stole the 'client' term from. Anyway, I know what a patient-practitioner relationship is and so does my BoN, so I guess I'll just have to run with that.

In my care plans, I always used the word "patient", and thankfully I didn't get ragged on for using that word. In the hospital, "patient" is a perfectly acceptable word to use. I would only use the word "client" if I was a private duty nurse, or if I was some sort of nurse consultant getting paid directly by an individual or business. If I work at a hospital, it's the hospital that would pay my wages, not the patients. Indirectly they do, but not directly.

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