Attitudes of patients and doctors towards the use of medical professional terms in psychiatry

Medical professional terms have developed contextually over time for professional communication and patient management. As a part of changes in the National Health Service in the U.K., an interesting trend to change or alter the use of professional terminology without consultation with affected professionals or patients has been noted. This practice is being perceived as a threat to medial professional identity and could be a potential source of inter-professional tensions and poses a risk to patient autonomy and safety. We report findings of a survey among patients and doctors in a psychiatric service to ascertain their attitudes towards some old and new medical professional terms. We found a preference among these important stakeholders for the old medical professional terms and also learned that they have never been consulted about changes in medical professional terminology. Keywords: medical, professional, terminology