Your nurse friend can truly relate because she’s been there too – whether it’s being covered in body fluids, a demanding patient or relative, a death that touches you deeply, a crisis or the workload that’s putting your head in a spin, or issues with other co-workers or management. Yes, they can. For example, a relationship with a former patient you treated over a number of years is more likely to be inappropriate than a relationship with a patient with whom you had a single consultation. This can quickly turn into a professional and social dilemma. Always keep your personal and professional lives separate. Such a relationship need not be long-term or even sexual in nature to attract censure. Taking a relationship with a patient outside of the professional realm can be considered sexual misconduct and carry some serious consequences. Any therapist who denies having ever been tempted is either lying or is simply deluded. A former nurse at the Gino J. Merli Veterans Center gave a patient more pain medication than was prescribed even though that patient had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, according to the state attorney general’s office. In most instances, keep it simple: I’m your doctor. If the relationship doesn’t work out the way the patient wished, he or she could bring charges against the physician - even if it was the patient who initiated the relationship - and that can present big problems for the physician. Many patients even use physicians who are already a personal friend. I've never even looked for a patient on Facebook, nor would I accept a friend request from them. They were my Facebook friends prior to being my patient. I have an ethical question. I'm unsure of this because although I want to go on the date, I don't want my career at risk. There are Facebook friends, Snapchat buddies, and Twitter followers. Nurses who have friends in their workplace can also assist each other during stressful situations by giving each other someone to vent to. It may sound great to think you could be friends with your ex-therapist, but, in reality, the patient-therapist relationship (in long term therapy particularly) is not readily transferable to the… Nurses must get buy-in from patients when it comes to their care. The patient’s family saw her posting (which did not include names), and the nurse didn’t think it was her fault because she considered her Facebook page private. A nurse should not enter into a friendship or other personal relationship with a patient, their family members or their substitute decision-makers. My father’s mother met my grandfather when he was her patient. Unprofessional behavior and comments can affect the relationship of trust between the nurse and the patient. For these, the best we can do is to follow the advice of the College's Ethics Manual: “Because it may be difficult for the physician to judge the impact of the previous professional relationship, the physician should consult with a colleague or other professional before becoming sexually involved with a former patient.” From your own romantic pursuits, you know that if someone is really interested in you, they will find a way to make contact. Whether or not the patient is always vulnerable can be debated. What nurses said about relationships with patiets ‘A blanket ban on dating former patients is an infringement on our civil liberties’ ‘It is never appropriate to ask a patient on a date’ ‘When my nurse manager started a relationship with a patient while he was critically ill it was hushed up’ Given the nature of the nurse practitioner-patient relationship, crossing professional boundaries can lead to some sticky interpersonal, not to mention legal, situations. 2. If a healthy nurse-patient relationship is established from the get-go, the nurses can help the patient feel more at ease in their situation and encourage questions and participate in their care. The patient describes him- or herself as having "special powers" and states, "I believe we can all read each other's thoughts at times." A patient is withdrawn and suspicious and states he or she has always preferred to be alone. There are no laws that prevent a doctor from being friends with patients, whether it's a current or a past patient. Kaitlin probably did believe that their nurse-patient relationship terminated when her young patient was discharged but there is rarely a 100% guarantee that they would never re-enter a nurse-patient relationship. I am newly divorced, and my former in laws blame me. The therapy relationship can and should evoke strong feelings in both therapist and patient that are vital to effective treatment. 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