IS IT TIME TO CHANGE NAME OF PATIENT TO (IM)PATIENT IN MEDICAL CARE ?
IS IT TIME TO CHANGE NAME OF PATIENT TO (IM)PATIENT IN MEDICAL CARE ?
Patient is believed to have its origin from Middle English word pacient, from Anglo-French, from Latin patient-, patiens, from present participle of pati to suffer; perhaps akin to Greek pēma suffering. As per oxford dictionary, the word patient means one who has the potential of bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint or manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain or not hasty or impetuous or steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity or one able to or willing to bear. And in medical care it means anyone who seeks medical consultation anywhere for routine care, checkup and evaluation or is admitted in the hospital for any treatment or diagnostic investigations.
Now I will start with an example why I want the definition to be changed from patient to impatient. A day before I am writing this, I went to canteen at 2:45 pm for my lunch as I am a human and sustain on routine food as well. At 2:50 pm before even I had ordered my food, my OPD attendant called me to convey that a patient had arrived in OPD. I asked her to record the routine vitals and I conveyed her that I would come to examine the patient in 10-15 minutes after taking my quick working lunch. (Note that we have emergency next to the OPD area only). She said (im)patient is shouting that he is there in the OPD and nobody is there to see and attend to him [(im)patient]. It is worth mentioning that it was hardly 3-4 minutes before that he had entered the hospital premises. Anyway, I being a doctor, and a so called deemed to be a noble professional, without even gulping anything went back to see the (im)patient and it was a routine follow up (im patient) who had been advised (2 months back) to see me back after 2 weeks & now instead of 2 weeks, he had visited me after 2 months and was shouting that nobody was there to see him. After exchanging pleasantries and courtesy greetings they (impatient and attendants) complained, “ Dr., Why don’t you sit in your room for the whole day?” I don’t know what I had to answer, but I told them that I was a doctor as well a human both and also had to visit other admitted (Im)patients in hospital or go to Canteen, Washroom etc for a few minutes at least in a day. The patient was looked after and was facilitated with all help that he required. Thereafter, he went back to his cozy room to probably visit me or any other professional again next time with the same impatience.
However, this incident affected me and made me ponder, why do we call them patients even now and why not to revise it to impatient? To my mind, infact, the hospital amd all medical care staff should be called patients in the real sense, who patiently listen to & handle these impatiens very patiently every time. We have often seen these days that any person (I shall call them instead of patients) who visits us in hospital from emergency to routine OPD is always impatient and expects that he or she should be attended before anyone else. It is obvious for anybody in emergency to be impatient, it is fairly genuine as well as normal but as a routine visitor to hospital or any diagnostic center being impatient and even public display of this outburst of this it to others as well and misbehaving with hospital staff or doctors is unacceptable. I wonder how good or (im)patient friendly it is or is going to become in future.
Let me share, what worst can impatience bring in health care. Impatience is a major source of negative experience while waiting for health care. A set of studies establishes that an individual’s distance from receiving care plays a role. During a survey, when participants were asked to envision a trip to the doctor, they were less patient after waiting nine minutes when they expected the wait to be 10 minutes than when they expected the wait to be 20 minutes. After waiting the same amount of time, people were less patient when they were closer to seeing the doctor. Similarly, in the context of a medical appointment, participants said they would be less patient waiting to check out compared with check in, and when waiting in an exam room for an appointment than waiting in the reception area. These scenarios suggest that the closer individuals believe they are to a completing a medical procedure, the less patient they become.
Another experiment involved a hypothetical scenario about a treatment administered before an international trip, to boost immunity for a disease that could only be contracted while abroad. Participants were offered a painful shot or a painless pill, both of which would produce health benefits at the same time. Nevertheless, 68 percent of participants said they would choose the shot when they could get it over with sooner rather than the pill, whereas only 31 percent chose the pill when both treatments were available simultaneously.
So I feel it’s the time to change the nomenclature from patient to impatient in health care sector.
Be impatient to make things better, to take action, to renew your efforts. Be patient in expecting tangible results. Remember, patience is a virtue!
Dr Hakim Irfan Showkat
Interventional Cardiologist
MD, FACC, FESC, FAPSIC
9990390305
Note: Views expressed are personal
