hi guys! i have a coworker that’s really insistent on “patient centered language”. if you’re unfamiliar, it’s the idea that calling someone “patient with cancer” is better and more humanizing than calling someone a “cancer patient”. its starting to get annoying when talking to her or giving report because she will cut me off to “correct” me. for example, if i say “tbi patient”, she will interrupt me and say “patient with tbi”. nobody else on my unit does it, and it’s not like it’s a hospital policy/management push. i’ve asked her “what does it really do, if you’re still referring to them as a patient, by that logic, aren’t you still seeing them as a dependent in your care and not an individual?” but shes steadfast in the idea that giving descriptors after saying patient is somehow more humanizing. i am younger and newer to the field so i dont push it, and now im starting to do that whenever i talk to her just so she wont interrupt me. its really not the end of the world, just a bit annoying. but do you guys think this really even does anything? am i not open minded enough? or is this just highly performative and virtue signaling? in my opinion, it doesn’t change anything because “patient” still implies someone under your care and strictly sets a professional, less personal relationship, whether or not it’s “cancer patient” or “patient with cancer”. if they’re not in the hospital, being their unique selves at home, they aren’t “patient who likes to garden”. of course they’re their own unique people with unique lives and needs, but my relationship to them is as “cancer patient”, and that doesn’t mean i see them as any less of a person. it’s just the reason we are here together on the unit. it’s like insisting that someone actively out playing soccer on a soccer field isn’t a “soccer player” because that’s dehumanizing, and to instead call them “person who plays soccer”. i really don’t care how people want to put it. i think if a patient prefers it, that’s cool and i will adhere to that. but i hate the implication that i am dehumanizing my patients just by putting some words in the wrong order. and i have never been asked to do this by a patient, just her! i also don’t talk to my patients and say “hey tbi patient”, i call them by their preferred name and try to get to know them. if she prefers that, fine. but i really don’t think it makes her a better nurse or a better person, and i definitely don’t think she needs to jump on me every time i say “sepsis patient”. what do you guys think? is this something you really adhere to? if so, why? i don’t want to be close minded, i just cannot see how it changes anything for the patient. it feels performative to me, idk.   submitted by   /u/Patient_Rooster_5986 [link]   [comments]