Facebook & MD's

[Ariee]

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I've noted some of my upperclassmen (who are residents now), in the past few months (intern excitement?) post about the type of pt they see, sometimes even pt labs. Then they post about hrs they work, call, etc....

What is up with that?! I know medicine consumes our lives but time outside (if that exists) should be spent discussing other things...like the game or other current events...it just doesn't make sense to me why ppl post about that stuff, seems like doctor/god complex to me....

I love Brad Paisley's song..."I'm so much cooler online".

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

Probably not a God complex. Residency can consume the soul and the most excitement can be a cool diagnosis or interesting case. It sounds really lame but sadly it's true.

 

[Frugal Traveler]

Even medical students do this... I think it is unprofessional and borderline HIPPA violation sometimes.

 

[smq123]

What is up with that?! I know medicine consumes our lives but time outside (if that exists) should be spent discussing other things...like the game or other current events...it just doesn't make sense to me why ppl post about that stuff, seems like doctor/god complex to me....

😕

It's not a doctor/god complex, at least for me and most of my friends. It's just genuine excitement. We're finally doing what we've spent so much time preparing for, and it's kind of cool to see a weird case. Everyday you learn something new, as an intern, and that can be exciting in a very geeky way.

You do have to be careful, though, since some residents have gotten in trouble for clear HIPAA violations.

 

[medicinesux]

Seeing the face of a certain despicable attending who I've seen chew out residents and treat medical students like dirt keep showing up in my recommended friend list makes me want to vomit. Wish he would change his profile pic to some inanimate object like a cup or something and give my eyes a rest. Does anyone know how I can stop his fugly face from ever showing up like that again? And no, adding him as a friend is not an option!

 

[ChocolateKiss]

Seeing the face of a certain despicable attending who I've seen chew out residents and treat medical students like dirt keep showing up in my recommended friend list makes me want to vomit. Wish he would change his profile pic to some inanimate object like a cup or something and give my eyes a rest. Does anyone know how I can stop his fugly face from ever showing up like that again? And no, adding him as a friend is not an option!

Just click decline on the page where it shows you the friendship request.

 

[EternalMD]

do you honestly think people posting about their lives to make themselves cooler is something isolated to the medical profession? just look at most updates people post about how cool they are i.e. "man, i got smashed last night" (translation, i'm a party animal) or those who travel for work and feel the need to talk just about that -- "traveling to amsterdam" (i'm well traveled). Being in medicine and talking about what you do is no different -- as long as it doesn't violate HIPAA

 

[Winged Scapula]

Just click decline on the page where it shows you the friendship request.

I think medicinesux is not talking about a friend request but the bar on the right side of the screen where friends are suggested based on common friends.

There is a woman I strongly dislike from college who pops up there because we have mutual friends. I'd love to know how I can block those suggestions so I don't have to see her face ever again.

 

[Ariee]

😕

It's not a doctor/god complex, at least for me and most of my friends. It's just genuine excitement. We're finally doing what we've spent so much time preparing for, and it's kind of cool to see a weird case. Everyday you learn something new, as an intern, and that can be exciting in a very geeky way.

You do have to be careful, though, since some residents have gotten in trouble for clear HIPAA violations.

true true, it's the HIPAA violations that are bothersome, I just wouldn't want my paren't dr. posting about them, ya know...

Seeing the face of a certain despicable attending who I've seen chew out residents and treat medical students like dirt keep showing up in my recommended friend list makes me want to vomit. Wish he would change his profile pic to some inanimate object like a cup or something and give my eyes a rest. Does anyone know how I can stop his fugly face from ever showing up like that again? And no, adding him as a friend is not an option!

LOL! Funny!!! Just click the x by their name, like choclate said...

do you honestly think people posting about their lives to make themselves cooler is something isolated to the medical profession? just look at most updates people post about how cool they are i.e. "man, i got smashed last night" (translation, i'm a party animal) or those who travel for work and feel the need to talk just about that -- "traveling to amsterdam" (i'm well traveled). Being in medicine and talking about what you do is no different -- as long as it doesn't violate HIPAA

Ya, this is true...what is interesting is I just realized I hold my colleagues at a higher standard of professional conduct/maturity than my other friends...I guess I'm not a big FB fan at all....It's got a particular hollywood effect that I find really lame!

🙂

 

[Winged Scapula]

I've noted some of my upperclassmen (who are residents now), in the past few months (intern excitement?) post about the type of pt they see, sometimes even pt labs. Then they post about hrs they work, call, etc....

What is up with that?! I know medicine consumes our lives but time outside (if that exists) should be spent discussing other things...like the game or other current events...it just doesn't make sense to me why ppl post about that stuff, seems like doctor/god complex to me....

Although I will occasionally post something interesting or particularly frustrating about work on FB, I highly doubt that most of your classmates are posting for ego reasons.

For many of us, our work is the basis of our lives, we enjoy it and submerge ourselves in it. IMHO its egocentric to tell people how to spend their lives. If someone has no interest in "the game" and wants to devote themselves to medicine, why does it matter?

I have lots of outside interests but the vast majority of my week is spent at work and at home doing work. It would be strange if that didn't creep into my social life.

 

[Ariee]

Although I will occasionally post something interesting or particularly frustrating about work on FB, I highly doubt that most of your classmates are posting for ego reasons.

For many of us, our work is the basis of our lives, we enjoy it and submerge ourselves in it. IMHO its egocentric to tell people how to spend their lives. If someone has no interest in "the game" and wants to devote themselves to medicine, why does it matter?

I have lots of outside interests but the vast majority of my week is spent at work and at home doing work. It would be strange if that didn't creep into my social life.

Ya, I guess I shouldn't have said "should be spent discussing other things". It's not really my buisness what ppl should or should not discuss. I just don't really understand why pt labs and call hours are being posted, who cares? That's why I called it a god complex...But, I can understand docs being really excited about a case and posting it on FB or just venting about life in general. My approach would be to write a research paper on it or present at grand rounds or just talk to my significant other, etc...everyone is different 🙂 & free to do their own thing 🙂

 

[Winged Scapula]

Ya, I guess I shouldn't have said "should be spent discussing other things". It's not really my buisness what ppl should or should not discuss. I just don't really understand why pt labs and call hours are being posted, who cares? That's why I called it a god complex...But, I can understand docs being really excited about a case and posting it on FB or just venting about life in general. My approach would be to write a research paper on it or present at grand rounds or just talk to my significant other, etc...everyone is different 🙂 & free to do their own thing 🙂

If they're interns, they're probably excited, frustrated, and mortified about their experiences.

Frankly, while it may seem weird to post the number of hours on call, its no less interesting to me than many other status reports. There's one FB friend I have from residency (a former social worker) who apparently has fibromyalgia...her constant posts about being in pain make posting about patient labs and call hours seem like a dream.

There may be some 1 up manship - ie, I worked more call hours than you, but if the patient labs were really incredible, I can see posting that (in fact there's a thread in EM with record patient labs).

 

[medicinesux]

I think medicinesux is not talking about a friend request but the bar on the right side of the screen where friends are suggested based on common friends.

There is a woman I strongly dislike from college who pops up there because we have mutual friends. I'd love to know how I can block those suggestions so I don't have to see her face ever again.

true true, it's the HIPAA violations that are bothersome, I just wouldn't want my paren't dr. posting about them, ya know...


LOL! Funny!!! Just click the x by their name, like choclate said...


Ya, this is true...what is interesting is I just realized I hold my colleagues at a higher standard of professional conduct/maturity than my other friends...I guess I'm not a big FB fan at all....It's got a particular hollywood effect that I find really lame!

🙂

On the recommended list like Kim mentioned......Ariee, I see the X you are talking about. Let's hope this works Out of sight out of mind.

 

[Ashers]

On the recommended list like Kim mentioned......Ariee, I see the X you are talking about. Let's hope this works Out of sight out of mind.

FYI: Facebook says that by clicking the X it blocks people from showing up in your suggested friends ever again, but I know that I've had people be repeated in my suggested friends. I just keep clicking the X.

As for the topic... I try to keep patient info out of my status updates, but I can't keep work out of it totally. My life is too much hospital to not do that -- sad, but true. =(

I sometimes think that maybe my status updates might educate people too... like some of my siblings who think that I can take off whenever I want and don't understand when I say "really, I can't take vacation in that month to fly across the country for a wedding" or who don't understand that yes, I really do work 30 hours in a row, and I won't be able to communicate with you during that time.

 

[dragonfly99]

I don't think people should post patient labs on Facebook, if there's any way they could be remotely linked to a real/actual patient. If it was our relatives, we'd want this info to stay private. I personally never post status updates...I figure nobody freakin' cares that I just got off call, went for a jog, etc. LOL!

 

[Winged Scapula]

I don't think people should post patient labs on Facebook, if there's any way they could be remotely linked to a real/actual patient. If it was our relatives, we'd want this info to stay private. I personally never post status updates...I figure nobody freakin' cares that I just got off call, went for a jog, etc. LOL!

I care. 😀

 

[exPCM]

Interesting that facebook is now a general residency issue.

 

[medicinesux]

Interesting that facebook is now a general residency issue.

Yeah, I'm surprised this hasn't been moved to the highly popular Student Research and Publishing Subforum by now.

 

[goofE1]

Our PD sent an email to us recently as a kind-of-gentle reminder that Facebook posts are an excellent way to damage your own reputation as well as that of your institution, stemming from an incident in which no patient info was involved but the resident in question was expressing some frustrations that would be better kept amongst those who can sympathize and not put out there for the virtual world at large to see. Be careful who your "friends" are and what you put in writing, because it's pretty dang hard to erase once its out there. IMHO, verbal rant sessions are much more cathartic than writing a couple sentences anyway 🙄

 

[medicinesux]

Our PD sent an email to us recently as a kind-of-gentle reminder that Facebook posts are an excellent way to damage your own reputation as well as that of your institution, stemming from an incident in which no patient info was involved but the resident in question was expressing some frustrations that would be better kept amongst those who can sympathize and not put out there for the virtual world at large to see. Be careful who your "friends" are and what you put in writing, because it's pretty dang hard to erase once its out there. IMHO, verbal rant sessions are much more cathartic than writing a couple sentences anyway 🙄

Shouldn't your PD be saving lives or something? And isn't this all common sense anyways? If you want to be a friend ***** and befriend all the attendings in your hospital than you better keep "acting" as the perfect noble citizen that you are. Until you get tagged in a pic like this

 

[roja]

The X works great. Once someone is a 'friend' if you want to hide thier status updates, on your home page, mouse over the right of thier post, a 'hide X' will come up. they will be your 'friend' but you won't have to see thier posts.

Consider creating filters. This allows you to select who can see what posts, pictures or information people can see on facebook.