patient progress

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an idiom playing on the double meaning of patient — both an adjective meaning tolerant and unhurried and a noun meaning a person receiving medical care — to describe the kind of slow, steady advancement that characterises recovery from injury or illness; patient progress acknowledges that recovery typically does not follow a smooth linear curve but advances in small, sometimes barely perceptible steps interspersed with plateaus and occasional setbacks; the phrase encourages both the person in recovery and those supporting them to adopt a long time-horizon and to measure progress in weeks and months rather than days; it is particularly relevant in cognitive rehabilitation where recovery from brain injury can continue for years post-injury, and where the expectation of rapid visible improvement can generate discouragement when the reality is slower than hoped and more difficult to measure than physical recovery