Facebook nurses and patients

Me neither. I don't want to talk to my old HS boy friends, let alone patients!

Should a nurse befriend a former patient when that patient sends a friend request. I have seen both positive and negative outcomes when this happens, what is your opinion?

Homework?

Some sound advice found here. Count me as another nurse who will not accept former patients as FB friends, for the reasons noted in previous posts.

Absolutely not, as per previous posters. Nothing good can come of it.

The only patient I am Facebook friends with belongs to the same sailing club as I do and I occasionally crew for him. I knew him as a patient first but our club is small so it would be impossible to have no contact with him. I continued to care for him after we became friends but in a limited way ( I accessed his port and drew his labs). I NEVER discuss his illness outside of the clinical setting and nobody knows I took care of him. We are quite good friends now but I am excruciatingly careful to keep our clinical and social relationships separate which isn't difficult because he's only seen in clinic 2 times a year and our friendship is almost entirely based on our mutual activities at the club. I have been friend-requested by many other patients but have ignored them all (even the folks from my church). In general I think it's a no-brainier to avoid it.

No, and nor should you accept request to baby sit your patients after discharge, sign on to be their home health nurse through another agency, go out to dinner with them, etc. And if you happen to find a former patient on facebook or another website, and their information is public, do not "like" it!

I did friend the son of a former patient (but not until I left the agency). He would occasionally tell me how she was doing, and how appreciative he was of the whole Hospice experience.

He didn't go into specifics about her care, and I never asked. None of my business.

Frankly, most of our conversations revolve around his dog-yes, I'm that person who goes to a party and winds up playing with the dog lol.

I don't have a Facebook so this isn't a concern. But even when I did I would never be friends with a former patients, ever.