Why is the term client used instead of patient?

[LauraLou]

This may be a silly question, but I am in my first semester of nursing school. All my professors refer to patients as clients. Is there a reason why the term client is used instead of patient? Does the word patient imply something negative that I'm not aware of? It just seems a little strange to me.

Thanks!

[fergus51]

Steph, I love you! When I saw the title of this thread, the first word that came to mind was "blech"!!! Maybe you are rubbing off on me:)

I do not use the word client, and most patients don't know that a client is what they are. They think they are patients and so do I. This is not Burger King, they are not my customers. I understand the notion was to make people feel like they were partners in their healthcare, but I already felt that. To me, calling a patient a customer or a client diminishes the awesome responsibility we have to them and the special relationship between a healthcare provider and their patient. It makes it seem like a simple business transaction, and we all know that couldn't be farther from the truth.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Originally posted by fergus51

Steph, I love you! When I saw the title of this thread, the first word that came to mind was "blech"!!! Maybe you are rubbing off on me:)

I do not use the word client, and most patients don't know that a client is what they are. They think they are patients and so do I. This is not Burger King, they are not my customers. I understand the notion was to make people feel like they were partners in their healthcare, but I already felt that. To me, calling a patient a customer or a client diminishes the awesome responsibility we have to them and the special relationship between a healthcare provider and their patient. It makes it seem like a simple business transaction, and we all know that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Touche, Fergus! Awesome post, and so well put. Thank you.

[sharann, BSN, RN]

I will NOT use the word client. To me, a PATIENT is not a helpless, ill ,dependent slob, but a person who requires my professional nursing abilities! Maybe when all the doctors start saying "how is my client in room 454", I will consider using this ridiculous term. This is a PC administrative tyoe word. Nonsense!

[TweetiePieRN]

Everyone i know uses the word "patients". We abbreviate it as "pts". How are we supposed to abbreviate clients..."clts"...looks like a naughty word now!! Client reminds me of a cold, distant relationship/business transaction.

[zenman]

"Patient" - a person requiring medical care

"Client" - someone for whom professional services are rendered

I do agree that the word is too firmly entrenched for there to be any change.

[KMSRN]

I think using the term "client" is an attempt by nursing elite to make nursing look like a profession - much like nursing diagnoses. Also the term "patient" implies the medical model and using the term client dissociates nursing from medicine. Client is more of a social services term and (believe it or not) nursing is more aligned with psychosocial disciplines than with medicine.

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

I use both terms in my lectures and handouts (just to be token PC), but I much prefer the term "PATIENT."

[NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN]

I suppose I have always felt that the person is a client of the hospital but a patient of the nurse.

I don't buy that hoeey about the word demeaning the person just because some yak-off decided that they, personally, found it offensive.

Regardless of what I call them, I treat them with dignity and respect. I think whoever came up with this crapola had a bit too much time on their hands.

I have decided that I, personally, am offended by the word "nurse" and from now on will only respond to the term "Queen MammaJamma".

[elkpark]

first came into use in psych nursing, at the same time that the mental health disciplines in general began using it instead of "patient," in inpatient as well as outpatient settings. In mental health at the time, the intent was to move from seeing the "patient" as someone helpless and dependent on us for treatment determined by us to be what the person needs, vs. the "client" who is an individual with whom we work in partnership to make treatment choices and decisions. The intent of making the language change had nothing to do with money, and everything to do with the widespread movement in community mental health to start seeing clients as individuals who were active participants in their care.

The movement in medicine toward informed consent, right to refuse treatment, advanced directives, and all the other specific changes related to the idea that the patient is not a helpless recipient of care, but an active participant who directs the overall direction of the care, and who contracts with us to provide professional services, is an outgrowth of the movement that began in mental health.

Now, we take all of this for granted, but I've been in the biz long enough to remember how, when, and WHY all of this started happening, and changing the language was seen as an important part of changing people's (providers) attitudes.

And, yes, I have abbreviated "client" and "clients" as "clt' and "clts" in charts for many years, without thinking anything negative about the abbreviation ...

It may be seen by some as "political correctness," but that's not *always* a bad thing! I don't really care what people get called, but attitude does matter -- as a potential "client" myself (God forbid! ), I expect my healthcare providers to take me seriously as an active participant in my care, and I would guess that the rest of you probably do, too. So, I see this as a positive development.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

I say "patient" when referring to a person in the hospital.

I said "client" for that whole almost-5 months that i was a beautician.

I say "resident" for nursing home people, because they RESIDE there. To say "patient" there makes it sound like they're leaving anytime now.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Originally posted by NICU_Nurse

I suppose I have always felt that the person is a client of the hospital but a patient of the nurse.

I don't buy that hoeey about the word demeaning the person just because some yak-off decided that they, personally, found it offensive.

Regardless of what I call them, I treat them with dignity and respect. I think whoever came up with this crapola had a bit too much time on their hands.

I have decided that I, personally, am offended by the word "nurse" and from now on will only respond to the term "Queen MammaJamma".

Me too, me too!

Fergus . . . . I love ya too!!

Vickie, TweetiePie, Sharann, Marla, KMSRN, LPN2B .. . . . :kiss

steph

[LittleCatB]

I'm not sure how nursing-related this is, but anyway-

I'm a direct care worker at a group home (for the developmentally disabled) in Michigan and the term we used to use was "residents", then "clients" and then it went to "consumers" (I'm not making this up)

Now it's "the people that we support". and that is CUMBERSOME.

I can see the point, and I do think it's overly-PC, but I guess the point is not to differentiate from the staff and the, um... people that we support :) that we're all people who deserve equal treatment, and the same amount of respect, etc.

In the home I work at we just use the term "the ladies" or (obviously) their names.