title: Doctors are caregivers or providers? Patients are clients?
abstract: When I began medical school in 1956, physicians were always referred to as doctors and sick persons were always referred to as patients. In recent times, those of us who are physicians are often referred to as caregivers or providers by administrative staff, and the sick individuals we treat are often referred to as clients. Why this has happened and who decided to use these terms escapes me. I suspect it has something to do with reimbursement, and that someone other than physicians made the call.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Richard Conti
mesh_terms: D017028:Caregivers / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000639:trends*