Countering the stereotype of the unpopular patient
Intended for healthcare professionals
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Countering the stereotype of the unpopular patient

Bob Price Director of postgraduate awards, Advancing healthcare practice, Faculty of Health and Social Care, The Open University, Milton Keynes

Labelling theory and Stockwell’s seminal work on the unpopular patient can help inform nurses’ interactions with patients in the modern healthcare system. Today, older patients might be deemed unpopular because of their perceived personality, attitudes or communication, and because their needs fit poorly with the service available to them. These, and other factors, such as staffing levels, length of hospital stays, and patients’ expectations as consumers, help to influence what defines an unpopular patient.

Nursing Older People. 25, 6, 27-34. doi: 10.7748/nop2013.07.25.6.27.e448

Correspondence

altanprice@talktalk.net

Peer review

This article has been subject to double blind peer review

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 07 February 2013

Accepted: 18 April 2013

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