patient friend request on Facebook

Published

I am wondering what anyone thinks about nurses adding patients as friends on Facebook? Many of the people on my friends list on Facebook are nurses I work with. We have a patient who get's admitted into the hospital frequently and is always on my floor. We have all taken care of her at some time or another so I'm sure she feels very familiar with us. Just recently one of the nurses accepted a friend request from this patient. I had to change all my privacy settings on facebook because I didn't feel it was appropiate for this patient to be able to see what goes on in my personal life. (not that there is anything going on in my personal life but it's just the point) Now there are 3 nurses who have added this patient to their friends list. If any of you know how facebook works depending on your privacy settings you can see your friends list of friends which means this patient can see all the other nurses, family members ,ect (even my nurse manager is on our friends list) I'm sure this patient will probably go down the list and send us all friend requests, however I do not feel comfortable adding her as my friend. I do not want her to feel bad about that but as I've said I don't feel it's professional. Any thoughts on this?

My kids told me not to friend them. They don't need to know everything about their Mum (not that my life isn't an open book, ask me and I'll 99% of the time give you the info you want).

I was friends with all 3 . . . my oldest son is a responsible young man with a full-time job and going for his Masters and doesn't post that much but does put up photos of things he and his girlfriend do like attend Dodger games! :D

My middle son has an account but doesn't really post.

I asked my daughter to "un-friend" me because I couldn't stand the stupid photos she put up and the foulmouthed things her friends wrote. :rolleyes:

steph

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
wow, blocking people?! are you that scared of your patient knowing what your favorite movie is?

You all make it sound as if you've got deep dark secrets on your facebook page that you only want your close friends to see. YOU control what goes on and stays on your facebook page. YOU can control the amount of information seen by specific people. YOU can make your profile as detailed or not as you're comfortable with.

Certainly I'm not saying you should allow all your patients to be your facebook friend, but if you've established a long time connection with them already, I don't see the harm. Like someone else said, you're not inviting them over to your house for dinner. They still don't know where you live or your phone number, etc.

I don't know...maybe it's a generation thing.. :twocents:

Maybe it is a generational thing -- compartmentalizing different portions of one's life and recognizing that the same language/behavior/dress is not appropriate everywhere do seem to have gone the way of wearing hats and gloves.

My point is, I have different aspects of my life, and I would not choose for people who I know in one setting to necessarily know about other areas of my life.

Someone posted above "Facebook friends are not your real friends." I completely agree. They might more accurately be called "contacts" or some other term. But that fact is unrecognized by the majority of the Facebook population, who seem to blissfully ignore the implications. I have pared my FB friends to actual friends/family - really, it can be done.

I was Facebook friends with two of my child's closest friends - kids who spend a fair amount of time in our house and who I am close to. However, I found that I needed to de-friend them because their status updates and mine were sometimes uncomfortable. My status updates are done from an adult perspective - they don't have to contain offensive language or references to sex/drugs/rock & roll :p to be "adult" and not appropriate for kids.

Friending a patient? No. Not now, not ever.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med surge.

When I worked at the bank, we were not allowed to display pictures of our family die to an incident that involved stalking and a hostage situation. Therefore, I say NO! Patients are patients and you want to keep that divide. You may like them and think that they are sweet and harmless, but you have to remember that we post things of a personal nature (pictures of family and friends,etc.). Use your privacy settings and don't let her on.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Addiction / Pain Management.

I'll echo the idea of creating a "List".

Several of my former clients and colleague have "friended" me. It's the best way network for possible contract work or full-time employment.

Just restrict the "List" to viewing only X (Pictures of work); nothing else.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm still a student and fairly young but for me, I don't add anyone on facebook that I don't know. All of my friends are real friends, it's not like myspace for me. Facebook originally was for networking and keeping in touch with old classmates, of course the meaning of that has changed over the years but it's still the same for me. I've added people I went to Junior High with and haven't seen in about 8 or 9 years and for some we can talk like we haven't missed a beat. As far as patients, as people have said anyone can be a patient but if you DON'T have an outside of hospital relationship with the person then I don't think they should be added.

Most of the people on my facebook are HS friends that I don't go to college with, then a few of them are college friends and I have my two sister's added. I wouldn't have a problem adding co-workers if I had a friendly relationship with them. If I hung out with them or spoke to them in an outside of hospital setting then sure, but I certainly wouldn't add people just to add them.

I'm not a picture taker, so I only have one picture on facebook and when I want to change my profile pic I just change it and delete the other one. Some people have HUNDREDS of pics of themselves but I'm just not like that. My profile is on complete lockdown so only friends can see what school I go to and where I work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Don't forget the block feature on FB...if you block her now then she will not even know you are on FB...I love this feature myself lol.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Health Information Management.

Given the arguments over privacy settings on Facebook, I thought this might be germane to the discussion:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/237993

The entire column is better, but this gives you a decent amount of information.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Anything that can have a patient a part of your life outside of work such as facebook, twitter, sharing e-mails, etc is not a good idea not only for HIPPA reasons but for our own peace of mind. We all need to have separate lives away from work! I do not socialize with any co-workers, never have, never will as I need my own personal space.

thx!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Nurses often have difficulties even getting true understanding from their spouses that are not in the medical field, because what we do is care for people when they are not functioning in their optimum condition, we encounter situations, psychosocial and physiological up to death. We get into their lives in ways that no one else can. It is an obligation to guard that privacy and privilege completely.

Patients are not your friends. Never should be, although you may treat them with such "love" that is necessary to carry out your job. It is one of the safeguards that nurses take to ensure the privacy and respect that patients must have. I would hope that you would have better judgment and not even have to think of that as an option.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

Reading everyones post has me thinking.....

I've never met anyone in 15 years who was a patient that I cared to even think of contacting after I clocked out!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I too agree with you. I dont think that it is professional to add a patient to your facebook. I wouldnt want her to know about my personal life either because you never know what they could do with information like that. So yes i would have changed my privacy status too.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Don't forget the block feature on FB...if you block her now then she will not even know you are on FB...I love this feature myself lol.

So true! It's really not a "generational thing" to want to separate your private life from those people you don't really know. I'm in my early 20s and I have no problem blocking and ignoring people on FB. My friends list is limited to those people I really know and am friends with in real life. I mostly use the site to stay in touch with family that lives across the country from me.

It gives me the absolute creeps to have strangers or random acquaintances OR patients seeing my personal photos and information!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion