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About Connect

Mayo Clinic Connect is an online community that connects patients with each other and with those interested in learning more about Mayo Clinic or a particular health interest. Each year, more than 1.3 million unique patients from every U.S. state and nearly 150 countries come to Mayo Clinic for care. Patients, their families and friends, and Mayo Clinic's more than 64,000 employees and students are part of the global Mayo Clinic community. Connect provides a place for community members to share their experiences and connect with those who've faced similar experiences.

Learn how to Get Started on Connect.

New Member Guide

General Guidelines

  • Be respectful and kind. Disagreements are fine, but mutual respect is a must.
  • Realize that sarcasm and joking will often be misunderstood.
  • Be careful about giving out medical advice — sharing your own experience is fine, but don't tell other members what they should do.
  • Know that abusive or offensive behavior is not tolerated.
    • Profanity, vulgarity and abusive language are out-of-bounds. Personal attacks against members or health care providers are not acceptable. Such posts will be removed.
  • Keep in mind that Connect is a public forum. Read more about how to use Connect safely and protect your privacy.

Discussion Guidelines

Discussion groups are great places to interact with and learn from others. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your experience in the discussion groups.

  • Help people find your topic. Discussions with specific titles will receive more responses and better participation.
  • Ask members of the community for their experience, advice or opinions.
  • Beware of telling other members how to use the site — it's better to share any concerns directly with the community moderators.

Read more about how to use Connect safely and respectfully.

Learn about Why and How we Moderate and manage the community.

Your Profile Page and Settings

Use the Account Settings to update information about you that you would like to share, such as your name, @username or an avatar photo. You can also set your preferences to receive email notifications and activity digests; change your password and email address; and connect via Facebook or Twitter.

Learn more about how to set your notification preferences.