Can doctors and patients be FB friends?

A patient walked into my clinic for the first time, as I started introducing myself, she asks” how was your conference in Qatar? Did you like the mall you visited on Friday night? I paused for a while, this is not how patients usually respond when I introduce myself. I answered while grabbing my note and pen “ it was fine”. So what brings you to the clinic today? She smiled and before telling me her problems she explained that she has been following me on Instagram for some time and that’s how she knew about the conference in Qatar.

I suppose the above encounter is not that unusual since both patients and healthcare professionals use social media on a regular basis. We use social media to share our work achievements, our personal experiences and the services we provide in our professional capacity. Some patients follow us to know if we are the right people to help them sort their problems. But the question is can my patients be my social media friends? And if so, would that interfere with our professional relationship?

In my opinion there is no harm in being connected with my patients through social media provided that we both agree to mutually respect our boundaries. So my patients, like other followers can view my post, share and comment if they wish but we should not bring therapy into this, which means the patient should not discuss his or her problems outside the clinic since social media is not designed for that nor does it guarantee confidentiality for the information shared. I always explain that any form of communication should go through the clinic coordinator and not via social media.

Some patients do not understand this and feel restricted to appointment time especially when they feel the question they have needs immediate attention. They fail to see my point of view that outside therapy time I have my personal time to socialise and live my life.

If their situation is life threatening then they should consult the duty psychiatrist via the emergency department. Some would argue that their previous therapist allowed them to communicate with him through social media and I probably sounded “too assertive “when I responded” well, he is entitled to do what he feels comfortable with and me too”.

After all, imagine how my life would be if I spent it responding to every single query from people who come to the clinic? This would clearly lead to my burnout and makes patients more dependent on me. I totally understand that some colleagues don’t mind it because they feel it’s their duty to be there for their patients 24/7, or they probably like the sense of power they get out of it as they feel needed all the time yet that feeling comes with a big price. Keeping professional boundaries is essentially for a healthy doctor-patient relationship. Finally, social media can be a great tool to communicate with others and exchange thoughts, opinions and life experiences as long as it’s used wisely all the time.