TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Chapter 4. Patients and Families in Healthcare Teams A1 - Mosser, Gordon A1 - Begun, James W. PY - 2014 T2 - Understanding Teamwork in Health Care AB - The previous chapter deals with the healthcare professionals who are found in healthcare teams. Now we turn to the person at the center of each team, namely, the patient. Patients sometimes are referred to as clients by some healthcare professionals, especially social workers. By using the word patient we do not mean to suggest any disagreement with those who prefer to use the word client. Specifically, we do not mean to imply that all patients are or should be passive or dependent. Of course, sometimes patients are dependent—for example, when they are acutely ill and cannot think and act normally, say, because of severe chest pain or the effects of a life-threatening infection. But these examples of dependency are unusual. Most of the time patients are fully capable of making decisions about their care. Nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and most other healthcare professionals ordinarily use the word patient when referring to a person who is receiving health care. Since these professionals comprise most of the readership for this book, we use the word patient too. SN - PB - The McGraw-Hill Companies CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/04/19 UR - accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=57856215 ER -