ArticleHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2005
Patient, consumer, client, or customer: what do people want to be called?
Article in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Game Changers in the Treatment of and Engagement With Persons Living With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: The Role of the Nurse.International journal of mental health nursing · 2026Review
- Woman-centred care in conflict-affected and fragile states: a scoping review of policy integration and implementation gaps in the greater horn of Africa.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Developing more inclusive approaches to animal research and patient involvement.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2025Article
- Authentic collaboration in research: partnering with people with lived experience.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Exploring Consumers' Motivations and Experiences of Engaging as Partners in Cancer Research.The patient · 2024Article
- Factors Associated with "Survivor Identity" in Men with Breast Cancer.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2021Article
- "I Know a Guy Who Once Heard…": Contemporary Legends and Narratives in Healthcare.The Journal of medical humanities · 2020Article
- Article
- Pharmacy practitioners' lived experiences of culture in multicultural Australia: From perceptions to skilled practice.PloS one · 2019Article
- Chinese Minority Perceives the Doctor-Patient Relationship Differently: A Cultural and Economic Interpretation.Frontiers in public health · 2019Article
- Are you a cancer survivor? A review on cancer identity.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2016Review
- Telephonic terrorism.Texas Heart Institute journal · 2014Article
- Patients as consumers of health care in South Africa: the ethical and legal implications.BMC medical ethics · 2013Article
- Validating a conceptual model for an inter-professional approach to shared decision making: a mixed methods study.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2011Article
- Public claims about automatic external defibrillators: an online consumer opinions study.BMC public health · 2011Article
- Consumer language, patient language, and thesauri: a review of the literature.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2011Review
- SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP) 15: Engaging the public in evidence-informed policymaking.Health research policy and systems · 2009Article
- Cancer Patients Versus Cancer Survivors: Social and Emotional Consequences of Word Choice.Journal of language and social psychology · 2009Article
- "I wouldn't classify myself as a patient": the importance of a "well-being" environment for individuals receiving counseling about familial cancer risk.Journal of genetic counseling · 2008Article
- The UCLan community engagement and service user support (Comensus) project: valuing authenticity, making space for emergence.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2007Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo clarify preferred labels for people receiving health care.
backgroundThe proper label to describe people receiving care has evoked considerable debate among providers and bio-ethicists, but there is little evidence as to the preferences of the people involved.
designWe analysed dictionary definitions as to the derivation and connotations of such potential labels as: patient, client, customer, consumer, partner and survivor. We then surveyed outpatients from four clinical populations in Ontario, Canada about their feelings about these labels. SETTING AND
participantsPeople from breast cancer (n = 202), prostate disease (n = 202) and fracture (n = 202) clinics in an urban Canadian teaching hospital (Sharpe study), and people with HIV/AIDS at 10 specialty care clinics and three primary care practices affiliated with the HIV Ontario Observational Database (n = 431). VARIABLES AND OUTCOME MEASURES: The survey instruments included questions about opinion of label, role in treatment decision-making (the Problem Solving Decision Making scale), trust, use of information and health status.
resultsOur respondents moderately liked the label 'patient'. The other alternatives evoked moderate to strong dislike.
conclusionsMany alternatives to 'patient' incorporate assumptions (e.g. a market relationship) which care recipients may also find objectionable. People who are receiving care find the label 'patient' much less objectionable than the alternatives that have been suggested.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.