RT Book, Section
A1 Mosser, Gordon
A1 Begun, James W.
SR Print(0)
ID 57856215
T1 Chapter 4. Patients and Families in Healthcare Teams
T2 Understanding Teamwork in Health Care
YR 2014
FD 2014
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-179195-3
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=57856215
RD 2024/04/19
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.