As medical communicators, we should keep in mind that patients have unprecedented access to health, medical, and scientific content. Let’s remember that we’re all patients! We should consistently use language that honors and values the identity, dignity, worth, and image of every patient.
Let’s take a look at the use of common terms:
Patient: A person receiving medical care.
(Use when describing people who are receiving treatment other types of care.)
Example: The patient was admitted and evaluated for suspected acute coronary syndrome.
Participant: A person with a particular characteristic enrolled in a scientific study, usually a clinical trial.
(Use when describing a people who are part of a research study.)
Example: The study involved recruiting participants with type 1 diabetes to receive experimental drug A.
Client: Term used in behavioral health by psychologists and social workers.
(Use in research settings where patient or participant may be out of place.)
Example: Psychologists may help with a client’s emotional and physical problems.
Case: An occurrence of a particular disease.
(Use when a case is presented, reported, evaluated, or documented.)
(Do not use when referring to a person.)
Example: A rare case of skin non-Hodgkin lymphoma in an adolescent patient was presented to the hematology team.
When you’re reading older literature, keep in mind that language changes over time, so terms that were used previously may now be considered derogatory or antiquated. For example, subject was used and accepted for decades, but has now been replaced with patient or participant.
Want to learn more about word usage?
Check out more of our blog posts about Word Usage.
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