Why is the term client used instead of patient?

The term "client" drives me crazy. Makes me think of a call girl for some reason. Giving a patient a bed-bath sounds much more dignified than giving one to my client.

They explained the logic behind it, but I have never met anyone offended by the term patient. I don't feel I am a greater participant in my health care decisions because of being referred to as a "client", rather than a patient.

Here is a question. I work in an area where I don't have people sign forms and such, but what do the hospital forms say? Do they have a place for "Clients signature" and "Clients initials", or do they say "PAtients signature"?

What about on consents? Are they surgical clients, or patients?

Thank You Queen MammaJamma

My husband is now looking at me like I have lost the last of my marbles as I sit here laughing out loud!!:roll

client denotes an interactive relationship; patient denotes a one way relatinship. I use client as opposed to the patient word, since I find it more respectful.

Customers or clients pick and choose what they want and when they want it. A customer is always "right" by general sales principles because they know what is right for them.

Patients in a hospital or medical office cannot be customers or clients unless healthcare is going to let them decide what their illness is and what they want to treat it.

Welcome to the ER. What may we offer you.

Oh, tonight I think I'll have the gallbladder special. I want all the pain meds, a private room and a surgeon that will operate at my convience, but I want plenty of narcotics - IV NOT pill form. And I want all my family to stay in my room with free meals and work excuses all around.

As nurses in hospitals we treat patients. PATIENTS not customers, the patient cannot dx or treat themselves.

Hospitals are just that hospitals not fast food joints though I think management thinks that we should be.

Thank you everyone for your replies. Some of my professors trip over the word client, so I think they don't really like the term either. My skills lab teacher today said "Patient, I mean client, I mean whatever we are calling them this week."

Thank you again!

Originally posted by zenman

"Patient" implies someone that is dependant and has no say so in their care. "Client" infers that the person collaborates with the healthcare team in planning their care.

Z -- Just don't see it this way.

Just why is it thought that "patient" implies dependency, and "client" collaboration?

To me, in a hospital setting, the person accepting / receiving services is a patient, purely by definition and customary usage. And not because of some inferior characteristic.

OTH, I associate "client," generally with anyone who is a consumer of a professional service, and the word raises in my mind issues related to payment.

Once the human we're entrusted to care for and advise is in the facility, I think it's preferable for us -- as practitioners -- to focus on doing our jobs, and not emphasize the money angle in the relationship. The latter seems more an administrator's job. If the back room folks wish to use that term for their purposes, then let them. It's more apropos for the accounting group to do so than for us.

But none of the above means that our patient doesn't have options, choices, etc., as to the recommended treatments offered.

Originally posted by healingtouchRN

client denotes an interactive relationship; patient denotes a one way relatinship.

Would you please elaborate on why you feel this is so. Thanks!

Originally posted by LauraLou

Thank you everyone for your replies. Some of my professors trip over the word client, so I think they don't really like the term either. My skills lab teacher today said "Patient, I mean client, I mean whatever we are calling them this week."

Thank you again!

:chuckle :roll :chuckle

hmmmm....looked up "patient" and discovered it comes from the Latin "to suffer". :chuckle Maybe "client" IS better!

Originally posted by 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.

I don't believe the question is silly at all. Just consider this "client" nonsense as your introduction to the significant disconnect between nursing academia and actual nursing practice.

As mentioned by a previous poster, nursing academia has attempted to eliminate the word "patient" in favor of "client" for many years. In fact, as a pre-nursing student 15 years ago I recall the issue was discussed the very first day of class. The professor made much of the linguistic, "acted upon" definition conveniently neglecting the infinately more common use----that is one who receives medical care, attention or treatment (which of course correctly describes those individuals occupying hospital beds.) Unfortunately, the professor's preferred term does little to mitigate the problem she verbalized with "patient" since the etymology/origin of the word "client" itself is derived from words meaning dependent or follower.

Because many years have past since I attended nursing school, I am uncertain if the following is current practice. But at that time it was demanded that we behave as though other academic disciplines did not exist. When writing papers references had to be from nursing research/journals only; regardless of the actual scientific merit, regardless of the relevence to the specific issue at hand, if the study was published in a non- nursing journal we were not to able to cite it.

I suspect that academic nursing's preference for "client" reflects an attempt to establish a professional relationship distinguishable from that of the physician. As noted above a patient receives MEDICAL care.

One problem with this approach is that at least in the hospital environment the patient has been admitted by physicians in order to receive medical care and treatment. Now clearly the patient will undoubtedly require nursing services as well, but irrespective of what nurses call them, they are still properly referred to as patients; the word is entrenched within that setting and in no way does the usual definition exclude consent or collaboration.

So I would suppose that since nurses do provide professional services to patients, they could properly refer to them as clients in all setttings. However, in the real world most don't and in fact would be regarded with much amusement if they did.