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“Patients” vs. “Health Care Consumers”? Both, If You Ask AmyT–Susannah Fox

February 2, 2009 By Susannah Fox 4 Comments

Amy Tenderich weighs in on the name debate: patient vs. consumer. Almost anything is better than cyberchondriac or medical googler, but e-patient is still my favorite.

Filed Under: found on the net Tagged With: diabetes, diabetesmine, e-patients

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cheryl Greene says

    February 2, 2009 at 9:21 pm

    I loathe the word “consumer” — as if we use up healthcare. “Patient” isn’t much better, though it goes nicely with “waiting room”. I personally lobbied for “Fergusons”, but Tom put his foot down on that one.

    Reply
  2. Susannah Fox says

    February 3, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    How about “Health Activist”? That was a suggestion from Marie Connelly over on DiabetesMine.com. I also like Jane Sarasohn-Kahn’s suggestion of “citizen.”

    Reply
  3. Kevin Kruse at e says

    May 11, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    Seems like each term

    Reply
  4. Kevin Kruse at e-Patient Connections says

    May 11, 2009 at 4:00 pm

    Seems like each term has pro’s and con’s. The reality is that we ARE acting like health consumers, but the term sure is cold and doesn’t embrace the elements of being a good, or savvy consumer. e-patient much better at that I think. Health Activist makes me think of people marching on Washington–which although probably not a bad idea–not the right term for everyday actions.

    Will be nice when “patient” itself embodies all that we want e-patient to mean.

    Reply

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