In a recent commentary in The New York Times, Dr. Danielle Ofri, an associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine, looks at how physicians view increasingly ubiquitous terms such as health care provider, hospitalist and health care consumer.
She notes the recent essay on this topic by Dr. Pamela Hartzband and Dr. Jerome Groopman in The New England Journal of Medicine.
According to Dr. Ofri... "maybe it’s splitting hairs to want to be called a doctor, rather than a provider. Yes, maybe there is a hint of paternalism in preferring “patient” over “consumer” or “customer.” And yes, there are probably grander problems in medicine that require urgent attention. But words do influence us. In a world that is increasingly depersonalized, it is ever more critical to maintain protected spheres of human interaction."
What do you think?
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Yes, it's splitting hairs, and it fails to recognize that "provider" is a broader term encompassing not only physicians, but, at times, nurse practitioners and other members of the care team, as well as the institutions and organizations in which they provide care.
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