What is the difference between clients and patients

Your first bad grade came on a back-to-school seventh-grade writing assignment in which you were supposed to detail the activities you did in the summer. Some of the things were fun. Details are significant , and so are words in particular. The words we choose and use as humans play a significant role in how we see the world and how others view us and interpret our statements and feelings. The people your practice sees are suffering from emotional wounds, many of which are created by the words people speak to them, or the negative messages they replay in their head.

So, how do you refer to the people you treat? Would you call them a client or patient? Does the word you use even matter? Clinicians provide a service , and the clients pay a fee.

The words you use as a counselor reflect how you think about the type of help you offer to the people who come to your practice. Your word choice also reflects on treatment available to those who come to your office. Conversely, patient implies that there is something wrong with the individual and our relationship is one in which I am there to fix them. I hope to empower individuals as a client versus enabling them as a patient.

I see my clients as functioning people who are stuck in some aspect of their life or their relationships. This makes me a health practitioner, and it makes you a patient. Try surveying the people you treat. They don't like the idea of thinking of themselves as businesspeople and of their patients as clients, because they believe that puts the focus on the transactional element rather than health care; that the term somehow tarnishes the sanctity and integrity of the doctor-patient relationship.

I believe the opposite to be true. I think if your relationship with your patient base is to be completely honest and transparent, it's part of your ethical obligation to the patient to have them really understand, as consumers with economic interests, the value of what you do so they can make the right choices.

Most modern dentistry will require an out-of-pocket expense, requiring discretionary decisions about time and money. That means the people you diagnose are clients when they make those decisions.

They become patients when you perform the dentistry. The most successful dental entrepreneurs have learned to master both the patient and client relationship. However, this question of ethics is actually much more complex. The fundamental difference between a patient and a client is as follows: a patient presents a physician with a medical condition seeking a diagnosis.

Without finding the right diagnosis, a treatment could potentially harm the patient, or the harm could arise from not treating the patient at all. A client, on the other hand, will self-diagnose but expects treatment from a physician in order to enhance an existing normal body function or appearance via elective surgeries or procedures.

Even though the diagnosis already exists, any respectable physician will verify its accuracy before treating. The tricky part is that any treatment or elective surgery could lead to complications or worsen a condition, such as when a face lift treating lax skin damages a facial nerve that was properly functioning before the procedure. A segment of clients also exists that obsesses about flaws in appearance that are either minor or imagined due to a chronic mental condition called body dysmorphic disorder.

There is no course of treatment or elective procedure a plastic surgeon can offer someone who suffers from this disorder, as it is not resolved through body modification. Plastic surgeons are trained during their education to identify these clients, who then turn into patients with a need to seek psychiatric help. From rhinoplasty to liposuction, the popularity of cosmetic and elective procedures is skyrocketing, as is pressure on insurance companies to cover these costs.

Plastic surgery is more popular than ever, and physicians are left to determine on a case-by-case basis whether to proceed with a client. Loose guidelines exist, such as proceeding with clients whose decision to have surgery is not based solely on a body-image issue. With millions of procedures performed and billions of dollars spent on cosmetic and elective surgeries every year, it is impractical to think most physicians do not want a slice of the pie.

And to some extent, it is understandable.