Patient “Likes” and Mental Health of the Nurse

Should it matter if your patient likes you or not? Everyone talks about mental health and how social media can be damaging to it but we forget about the nurses and care-givers who provide care.

How the ever increasing patient likes and feedback can also be damaging to nurses as well.As long as you provide excellent care to your patients, should it matter if they like you or not?

“My patient likes me…” said Nurse Angela

“My patient remembered my name…I am so happy!” Nurse Agnes mentioned to another nurse.

I feel this should not matter as it creates an unconscious competitiveness between nurses vying for the likes and attention of their patients. You could almost compare it to Facebook or Instagram likes where the number of likes (in case this patients) help build or destroy the confidence of that nurse.

What about nurses that may not be as outgoing as their more extroverted colleagues, do they get to hide in the shadows? It is for a reason that the popular social media sits like Instagram and Facebook are taking the “likes” away. It does have a way of affecting mental health.

In my opinion, I feel that patient likes should not reflect on the abilities of a nurse. We all know that people can be fickle and a patient’s like or dislike may depend on their current mood and what happens at that moment.