Patients, clients, users or customers: what should we call people attending sexual health services?

In sexual health clinics there is debate on whether to call service users 'patients' or 'clients' and this mirrors an ongoing dialogue in the medical literature. The authors undertook a questionnaire survey in five UK centres of clinic attendees and staff to assess their preference.

A total of 1428 clinic attendees and 250 staff members completed questionnaires. 61% of attendees who responded preferred 'patient', with 23% expressing no preference. Only 9% of respondents preferred the term 'client'. 148 (59%) of all staff groups preferred the term 'patient' followed by 82 (33%) selecting 'client'. No staff member opted for 'customer' or 'user' as the preferred term. The difference between preference for 'patient' between doctors and nurses was statistically significant, with most doctors preferring the term 'patient'. Out of a total of 84 nurses, there was equal preference for 'patient' and 'client' (38 nurses in each group). Comments from attendees and staff who responded generally emphasised the concept of the 'caring' role of the health professional towards people attending the services.

The majority of people attending sexual health clinics and medical and clerical staff working in these services expressed a preference to retain the title of 'patient'. The main justification for this appeared to relate to the concept of caring for people. The authors therefore conclude that the terminology in sexual health services should revert to predominantly using the term 'patient'.