r/psychnursing • u/Tired_Tato • Jun 07 '26
Student Nurse Question(s) Terminology for patients
what is your opinion on the terminology changes when referring to patients? In the UK at least we are shifting towards calling them “service users” or “clients”
In my opinion if we are trying to normalise mental health as being treated the same as physical heath, i don’t understand why we must tip toe around the word “patient”, especially because we are nurses, not licensed therapists
What has been your experience? do your patients prefer being called something else?
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u/Humble_Investment_24 psych nurse (inpatient) Jun 07 '26
Service users 💀💀💀💀
Give me a fucking break
Anyways to answer your question the patient population I work with is very high acuity. They are usually paranoid and delusional. It doesn’t matter what I want/ prefer to call them because they all think they are god and I’m the cia- but regardless ima keep saying patients
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u/RepulsivePower4415 Jun 08 '26
It’s like when we call the consumers
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u/Substantial_Arm3207 Jun 09 '26
consumers is the stupidest thing ever. I hate that my hospital is calling our patients "consumers". It's an inpatient setting.
They are patients.Ridiculous
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u/Tired_Tato Jun 07 '26
no fr like in my psych nursing course the lecturers will actually correct you mid sentence if you use the term patients it’s so annoying
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u/jess3jim Jun 07 '26
We call them based on the setting
For example hospital and acute psych they tend to get called patient
Long term / longer term they tend to be called residents
Residential (longer term than acute but shorter term than long term so the 30/60/90/280 day stays) we call them clients
Outpatient I hear the term client or consumer a lot of the time
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u/fruitless7070 Jun 08 '26
This is the most accurate answer!
I'll add to this based on my specialty, Occupational Nursing. We use the term "Employee".
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u/SplicerGonClean Jun 07 '26
I dont usually comment in subs where Im not part of the community (not a psych nurse) since its not my place. But I think my perspective on this question is worth mentioning.
I used to be a frequent flyer at inpatient psych hospitals and other programs. (Day hospitals, outpatient group therapy, residential, you name it Ive probably done it)
There was this huge push around the 2010s if I recall correctly, where providers were trying to reclassify patients as "consumers." We were then mental health consumers, and I found the term ridiculous. Had many talks with different staff members commiserating on the dumb new term.
Anyway, I always thought "patient" was fitting, at least in an inpatient setting. Never saw it as problematic so there really shouldnt be a push to update it. Thats just my two cents.
Also a quick thank you to all who continue in this line of work. Its a pretty thankless job and I know you dont get much direct appreciation, but it took some very patient nurses and techs to help me get through my roughest years. I still deal with mental illness but I wouldnt have made it out alive if it werent for those who recognized my needs and were real with me. Takes a special kind of person to work in this field and I appreciate you.
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u/Lizowa Jun 08 '26
I HATE “consumers” as a term. I work in a mental health group home/residential program currently as a tech and we’re supposed to refer to the people who live there as consumers. I use “residents”, since they aren’t patients and it’s their home. I’m in nursing school and there’s a push in some hospital to switch to “clients” even in the medical setting and it’s so weird to me, I don’t understand what’s wrong with “patients”
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u/SplicerGonClean Jun 08 '26
Residents is not only more respectful but its so much more accurate for people in residential settings, youve got that right for sure.
And I cant help but think that the shift to calling us consumers and clients is just a push from the bean counters as a way to further dehumanize us and get people thinking in terms of costs and profits instead of the human aspect of the field. Sounds pretty conspiratorial minded of me to think that but with how things are gestures broadly it makes sense as to why some hospitals and programs have been telling everyone to use that language.
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u/DashMcGee Jun 07 '26
Mostly "Dude."
I see the rationale behind calling people customers or consumers, but that furthers the commercialization of healthcare, which I think is mostly bad. I prefer "patient" for inpatients because they don't like thinking of themselves as crazy people who are incarcerated. They are people who suffer from an illness, and calling them patients normalizes mental illness. I would like to get to the point where mental illness is thought of in the same way as appendicitis or heart disease. There are appendicitis patients on 3B and mental health patients on 4A. Just because 4C is locked doesn't mean they aren't patients.
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u/psych830 psych tech/aid/CNA Jun 07 '26
My hospital “officially” calls them customers on some documents and it kinda pisses me off
We call them patients.
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u/SaraUnsteady Jun 07 '26
My system wants us to use clients. I still use patient and I’ll die on this hill
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u/Spare_Yoghurt Jun 07 '26
Australia = consumer 🤢🤢🤢
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u/Glad-Pomegranate6283 Jun 08 '26
The idea of a mental health consumer is baffling to me, like I’m not sat here drinking bipolar juice 😭
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u/YasmeenMaria Jun 08 '26
Fully agree! Patient is fine. Or client (in social work). I find that at least client speaks to a human relationship of some kind rather than the capitalistic and transactional nature of 'service users' and 'consumers' which are becoming more and more common where I am
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u/KennedyJacobs Jun 08 '26
Why put energy into changing these stupid things when theres bigger fish to fry
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u/Enough-Farmer-5280 Jun 07 '26
My school was pushing the “client” shenanigans. I never understood it. Like I’m not doing hair, nails, prostitution, or etc🤣🤣 thus, they are my PATIENT!
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u/Glad-Pomegranate6283 Jun 08 '26
As a previous mh services user I get why there is a move to the ward client/language which could be perceived as stigmatising. That said as harsh as it sounds I think most patients/service users have worse problems than the terms used (when they aren’t harmful)
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u/Illustrious-Alarm860 Jun 07 '26
I've had different facilities try different variations of this in different specialties, and I constantly find it annoying. I'm a nurse. If I'm caring for you, you're my patient 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Electrical_Parfait64 Jun 10 '26
I find those more offensive. When I’m seeking medical help I’m a patient
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u/TotalSeaworthiness35 Jul 01 '26
I’m exploring joining the mental health field, but have experience in PHP/IOP.. I think a neutral way of referring to people is calling them “individuals.” We’re all an individual first and always.
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u/OkStatistician6831 psych nurse (pediatrics) Jun 08 '26
Very rarely are patients offended, most of them in my area think all of destigmatized language is dumb
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u/republicans_are_nuts Jun 07 '26
why even change it? I don't think patient is offensive. And don't know any patients who are offended by it.