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Facebook “Friends”

Facebook serves lots of purposes but in a natural disaster situation it really served as a great way to reach out to our patients and keep them informed. Monday it served as a great way to notify people quickly about closing early and the need to move around appointments. It let us quickly publish that we were closing Tuesday. Today it is great to sound the “all clear” notification that we will be back in business tomorrow!

I write this just to say that if you haven’t followed my facebook page, you should do so now at www.facebook.com/drevansorokinphilly/

The national association of medical boards recently published a directive stating that doctors should not “friend” patients on their personal pages as it is an inappropriate relationship. Business pages are ok to have and use, but personal facebook pages are supposed to be kept separate. This is highly problematic as often one has people in their lives that are both friends and patients. The line is often blurred and I like to think of many of my patients as friends. That being said, due to the threat of sanctions and punishments I ended up defriending many people from my personal page. The DVPS corporate page however continues to be a wonderful place to stay in contact! I am sure this will play out over the next few years as new technologies spread and become more elaborate.

I hope that all of my patients, friends, and their loved ones and families got through the storm relatively unscathed. Follow us on facebook for announcements in the future!