A patient having his blood pressure taken by a doctor.

A patient is any person who receives medical attention, care, or treatment. Therapy (in Greek: θεραπεία) or treatment, is the attempted Remediation of a health problem usually following a Diagnosis The person is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician or other medical professional, although one who is visiting a physician for a routine check-up may also be viewed as a patient. Illness (sometimes referred to as ill-health or ail) can be defined as a state of poor Health. Injury or bodily injury is Damage or Harm caused to the Structure or function of the Body caused by an outside agent or A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health A health care provider or health professional is an organization or person who delivers proper Health care in a systematic way professionally to any individual in Physical examination or clinical examination is the process by which a Health care provider investigates the body of a Patient for signs

Alternative terminology

Due to concerns such as dignity and political correctness, the term patient is not always used to refer to a person receiving health care. This brief article is about how the term dignity is used The article presents dignity as it is used by international organizations governments bioethicists academics and Political correctness (adjectivally politically correct; both forms commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term applied to Language, ideas policies or behavior Other terms that are sometimes used include health consumer, health care consumer or client. These may be used by governmental agencies, insurance companies, patient groups, or health care facilities (who may object to some implications of the word patient).

In nursing homes and assisted living facilities, the term resident is generally used in lieu of patient^[1]. SNF redirects here For the sports show see NBC Sunday Night Football. Assisted living residences or assisted living facilities (ALFs provide supervision or assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs coordination of services by outside But it is not uncommon for staff members at such a facility to incorrectly use the term patient in reference to residents. Similarly, those receiving home health care are called clients. Home care, (commonly referred to as domiciliary care) is Health care or supportive care provided in the patient's Home by Healthcare

Etymology

Patient is derived from the Latin word patiens, the present participle of the deponent verb pati, meaning "one who endures" or "one who suffers". Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite In Linguistics, a deponent verb is a Verb that is active in meaning but takes its form from a different voice, most commonly the Patient is also the adjective form of patience. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the Patience (ˈpā-shənz is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances Both senses of the word share a common origin.

In itself the definition of patient doesn't imply suffering or passivity but the role it describes is often associated with the definitions of the adjective form: "enduring trying circumstances with even temper".

Pediatric polysomnography patient at St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri, USA. Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics) is the branch of Medicine that deals with the medical care of Infants Children and Adolescents See also Polysomnogram Polysomnography or PSG is a multi-parametric test used in the study of Sleep; the test result is called a St Louis Children's Hospital is a pediatric hospital in St Louis Missouri, and is one of the premier children's hospitals in the United States Missouri ( or) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

Some have argued recently that the term should be dropped, because it underlines the inferior status of recipients of health care. ^[2] For them, "the active patient is a contradiction in terms, and it is the assumption underlying the passivity that is the most dangerous". Unfortunately the alternative terms also seem to raise objections:

• Client, whose Latin root cliens means "one who is obliged to make supplications to a powerful figure for material assistance", carries a sense of subservience.
• Consumer suggests both a financial relationship and a particular social/political stance, implying that health care services operate exactly like all other commercial markets. Many reject that term on the grounds that consumerism is an individualistic concept that fails to capture the particularity of health care systems.

Outpatient vs inpatient

An outpatient is a patient who is not hospitalized overnight but who visits a hospital, clinic, or associated facility for diagnosis or treatment. A hospital is an institution for Health care providing treatment by specialised staff and equipment and often but not always providing for A clinic (or an outpatient clinic) is a small private or public health facility that is devoted to the care of Outpatients, often in a community in contrast Treatment provided in this fashion is called ambulatory care. Ambulatory care is any medical care delivered on an outpatient basis Outpatient surgery eliminates inpatient hospital admission, reduces the amount of medication prescribed, and uses a doctor's time more efficiently. Outpatient surgery, also referred to as ambulatory surgery, same-day surgery or day surgery, is Surgery that does not require an overnight Medication, also referred to as medicine, can be loosely defined as any substance intended for use in the diagnosis cure mitigation treatment or prevention of disease More procedures are now being performed in a surgeon's office, termed office-based surgery, rather than in an operating room. In Medicine, a surgeon is a person who performs Surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive Medical treatment that involves the cutting of a An operating theater (or theatre) was a tiered Theater or Amphitheater in which students and other spectators could watch surgeons perform surgery Outpatient surgery is suited best for healthy people undergoing minor or intermediate procedures (limited urologic, ophthalmologic, or ear, nose, and throat procedures and procedures involving the extremities). [eMedicineHeatlh. com]

An inpatient on the other hand is "admitted" to the hospital and stays overnight or for an indeterminate time, usually several days or weeks (though some cases, like coma patients, have stayed in hospitals for years).

See also

• Casualty
• Clinical Pathway
• Doctor-patient relationship
• e-Patient
• Hospital
• Medicine
• Patient advocacy
• Patient empowerment
• Patients Not Patents (an advocacy group)
• Patients' Bill of Rights (US)
• Virtual patient

References

1. ^ Foundations of Caregiving, published by the American Red Cross
2. ^ Neuberger, J. A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident injury or trauma. Clinical Pathways (Care Pathways Critical Pathways Integrated Care Pathways Care Maps are one of the main tools used to manage the quality in Healthcare concerning the standardization The doctor - Patient relationship is central to the practice of Medicine and is essential for the delivery of high-quality health care in the diagnosis and e-Patients (also known as Internet Patient, or Internet-savvy Patient) are health consumers who use the Internet to gather information about a Medical A hospital is an institution for Health care providing treatment by specialised staff and equipment and often but not always providing for Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the A Patient Advocate acts as a liaison between patient and healthcare provider The patient empowerment concept a recent outgrowth of the Natural health movement asserts that to be truly healthy people must bring about changes in their social situations Patients Not Patents is a Patient advocacy group whose primary activity is challenging the validity of medical patents before the United States Patent and Trademark Office A Patient's Bill of Rights is a statement of the Rights to which patients are entitled as recipients of medical care Virtual patients are simulations or representations of individuals involved in one or more Health care processes typically (but not necessarily Patients Virtual The American Red Cross (also known as the American National Red Cross) is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance disaster relief and education inside (1999). "Let's do away with "patients"". British Medical Journal 318: 1756-8.  

External links

• I am a good patient, believe it or not, a peer-reviewed article published in the British Medical Journal's (BMJ) first issue dedicated to patients in its 160 year history
• How (not) to be a good patient, review article with views on the meaning of the words "good doctor" vs. "good patient"