Some words can be considered passive, for example ‘patient’, while other terms such as ‘client’ or ‘service user’ imply shared responsibility and equal power.  Words tend to convey the environment in which the care takes place.  For example ‘inpatient’ is a common term used to describe someone in hospital.  Therefore, term ‘patient’ is often associated with an illness or condition.

The terms used to describe service users tend to differ across professional groups and specialities.  In the main this is a result of professional identity and the extent to which the professional and service user share power within the relationship.  For example because of the illness connotations it would be unusual to hear a mental health practitioner describing a service user as a ‘patient’.

Your reflection might show some or all of the features of person-centred care identified by Manley et al.  If it didn’t you might want to analyse what was different and how you, as a student, might improve the situation.  The reflective account should help you to look more closely at the relationships within the service and the factors (power, compassion, communication) which facilitate effective patient-centred care.

Manley et al. (2011) refer to ‘person-centred care’, and identify the following features of person-centred care:

• Knowing the patient as a person
• Enabling them to make decisions based on informed choices about what is available
• Sharing decision-making rather than exerting control over the patient
• Providing information that meets the individual needs of the patient
• Supporting the person to express their choices
• Continually evaluating to ensure that care remains appropriate for the individual