How to react nicely if a patient asks for your social media acct?

fawnmarie, ASN · Sep 12, 2016

I agree with Autumn Apple's comment. I am being honest when I tell a patient "I prefer to only have close friends and relatives as friends on social media." I really don't want to see pictures and posts from someone that I am not well-acquainted with! I am also not comfortable with someone that I don't know viewing photos of my children and me. Most people are pretty understanding when I tell them this. When I receive requests from anyone I don't know extremely well...I just delete the request.

DarkEyed · Sep 12, 2016

I would just say "I want to maintain professionalism and prefer to keep my work and personal life separate." Seems kinda odd. Was this patient long term enough to want to get to know you on a personal level?

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

I've never been asked this question by a patient but my answer would be simple and honest, "I don't use Facebook (or whatever other account)". If I did actually have an account I would say something along the lines of it being in the best interest of their care to maintain a professional relationship and not interact over social media.

allnurses Guide · Sep 12, 2016

I simply say "no, my social media is for my family and personal friends". I've never had anyone ask any further questions.

JadedCPN, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

I don't have social media anymore thank goodness, but I have encountered this situation over the years. I'm a very blunt and straight-forward person so I've never had any issues telling my patients (usually teenagers) no I only use it for family and it is not allowed by the hospital. There were several instances that myself and coworkers experienced where a patient's father would randomly friend request us just by looking at our first and last names on or badge, which led to a lot of debate about whether full names should be on badges or not but that's another topic.

At my newer place of employment unfortunately professionalism and boundaries are not as defined at all. I've been shocked to see the number of nurses that are Facebook friends with patients and their parents and some even go as far as keeping in contact via text with the parents of the chronic kiddos.

Do not get me wrong, I absolutely love my career and have been passionate about it for over 10 years now. I understand that working in pediatrics, especially with chronic heart and cancer patients, you form these connections with patients and families that you take care of over the years. However there is still and should always be a professional line that shouldn't be crossed for many reasons, and I will never cross that line.

BSN16 · Sep 13, 2016

Ive never had anyone ask for mine but i do periodically get friend request from pts/family members. Which is weird because i never give out my last name. :bag:

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Sep 13, 2016

Either: A) "The company doesn't allow us to befriend patients on social media" or B) say you don't have an account and make sure your privacy settings are such that they will not be able to search you.

MikeyT-c-IV · Sep 13, 2016

Sometimes fun things happen in life. You'd be surprised where and how relationships can be formed. We, as Nurses, maintain a certain level of privacy and professionalism in regard to the personal relationships we form with our patients. I firmly believe that we should always form a certain barrier between these interactions. While we do, sometimes, become very professionally (which can be misconstrued as personal) involved. We aren't.... or shouldn't. We really do utilize the "method to the madness" to acquire the data we need to care for our patient.

So I put that out there. I recently met a very nice gentleman in which I spent a very minimal amount of time with. But as it turns out we had many things in common. Mostly in the arena of self care.... workouts... etc. He was in need of a work-out partner (he was new to the area) and honestly, I did too... because I was new to working out in a gym. Difficult situation.

I'm perfectly capable of leaving work... at work. But it's just a weird situation because he was a patient. Should it be weird? I don't think so. we're just two guys with common goals looking for a work out partner.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 13, 2016

Some of my former coworkers have gladly accepted social media friend requests from patients, although I feel this behavior crosses the boundaries of the nurse/patient relationship.

You could always say, "My employer does not allow it due to policies on social media, but I am flattered."

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Sep 13, 2016

Reading this thread made me remember a situation my family had with CNA who crossed some boundaries with Facebook. My father took my grandmother in after she was emotionally and financially abused by one of her other children. Realizing that she needed a lot more personal care than initially thought, he hired a CNA to provide care, companionship, and to transport my grandmother to this family member's house and supervise visits. After a couple of years she required 24/7 care which they could not afford in the home setting but found an ALF. The CNA knew the history of the case and that she was not to share information about the move until my father (POA) had shared the information with the other family member. Well, she DID share the information as instructed NOT to do. How? She friended this person on Facebook and told her. Because my grandmother really like the CNA we did not report it to the agency. I cannot describe how violated my parents felt that this information was released (they were trying to make sure that the move was as least stressful as possible for my grandmother). Just another reason to be careful of how we use social media and remembering to keep those boundaries of the caregiver-patient relationship well defined.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 13, 2016

I haven't been asked to Friend someone on FB but have been asked for my address or phone number to "keep in touch". I always smile and say that I wish I could, but that would violate hospital policy and professional ethics. Of course that won't work when they know your grandmother.

ReadyToListen, CNA, EMT-B · Sep 14, 2016

This JUST happened to me, like 2 days ago! I had developed a surface relationship with a patient based on emotional experiences that first put her in the hospital. Because my census was down (I am CNA) I had a little time to listen to her explanation while performing care. When she left for rehab , she asked me to look her up on social media. Never having experienced this request before, I only said I'll try to look for you. She seemed satisfied and did not press the issue. I spoke to my charge nurse afterwards and she said it's better to block stalkers that you do not know because they could be former patients or related to them.