I’ve been a nurse for 15 years. So, I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. But, in my mind, a “patient” is someone you have a different connection with than a “client”. It feels like it’s a cold and distant relationship to me. There’s nothing wrong with massage therapists or other businesses calling them “clients”. They may feel the same way about using the term “client” as I do about “patient”.
As a nurse, I have taken care of patients who were coming to the end of their lives. Others who were dealing with the worst health crisis they had ever experienced. I have listened to the life stories of the elderly because they were lonely in the middle of the night with no family around to keep them company. I have dealt with many situations from the nurse/patient perspective. I have been the one providing the care.
I’m not a physician but I have had patients, both as a nurse and as a massage therapist, call me “Doc”. They knew I wasn’t a doctor but I didn’t correct them. It was their way of showing me that they respected what I was doing for them. Sometimes, you just have to go with it.
As a licensed massage therapist, I see people in various stages of health as well. They come to me when they’re in pain and have tried everything else that they can think of. Other times, they’re just so uncomfortable and have so much tension built up that they need a professional to work it out. Physicians, physical therapists and other health professionals may also refer them to see a massage therapist so they search on Google and find me.
To me, the term “patient” is an endearing term. Referring to those who come to me as “my patients” carries with it a sense of weight and responsibility, on my part, to the person seeking treatment. They’re coming to me in hopes, trusting, that I can help them. I don’t take it lightly and I appreciate each person that comes to see me in my humble “residential practice”, as they call it. It’s a start.
This is the reason I call them my “patients” instead of my “clients”. It’s a personal and professional preference of mine.
About the author: Ethan Pariseau is a registered nurse with a bachelor of science in nursing and is licensed by the state medical board of Ohio to practice massage therapy.