Navigating the world alone is not what nature intended. We walk down the isle flanked by our trusted friends. We get through pregnancy with a slew of baby support groups and books to reference. I recently had an epiphany with how to create a community for my patients to support them through their surgical experience and a light bulb when on! I am a member of all sorts of Facebook Groups which has been extremely helpful. I thought, why not offer my patients a group, which is completely secure and private, where they can support one another through surgery? Why not?
I named the group the Dr. Emily Hartmann’s Surgical Tribe and all patients who sign up for surgery are invited. People can ask questions leading up to their surgery and receive advice from experienced surgical patients. I’ve also added resource files for people to reference and it’s a great way to see questions based on surgery type and things you didn’t even know you needed. It can be as basic as what kind of ice packs to buy but this can be so super helpful!
Other resources exist such as Realself.com which is helpful but somewhat overwhelming due to the shear quantity of posts and people on it. The facebook group is mostly local people who know the area and culture.
Of course this is entirely optional and social media isn’t for everyone…but highly encouraged 🙂
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