Why Is Humor Important In Health Care

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I believe there is a fine line when it comes to humor in health care. On one hand humor can be extremely beneficial and help build patient’s spirits, but, on the other, humor can be inappropriate and unprofessional. Humor can give patients hope and make them more comfortable. It can also be used as a way to gain patients' trust and get to know them and their loved ones better. Humor can be used to help patients cope and distract them from pain momentarily (Wiley, 2008). However, humor can be inappropriate in some instances. It should never be forced and the health care professional must always maintain a professional relationship with their patients. 2) My opinion of humor has not changed much after learning about cultural barriers, special …show more content…

Our patients have to trust us and using humor can make or break this trust. There is no doubt that humor is a great way to make the hospital setting less intimidating. It puts some humanity back into the patient’s room. They aren’t just being spoken to like a specimen, they are being treated like another human being which patients will appreciate. If a nurse would like to use humor with a patient I believe that it is vital that they talk to their patient about humor during the orientation phase of the patient-nurse interaction. During this phase the nurse and the patient are introducing themselves and assessing the patient's needs (Foust & Sheldon, 2014, p. 16). This a time where boundaries are established so it is important that nurses use this time to get a better understanding of what their patient is okay with and what they are not okay with. 3) Health professionals have to be extremely cautious using dark humor. They should establish a strong relationship with their patients first. In my opinion the patient should initiate this type of humor before the nurse. There is no telling exactly how a patient feels or how they are dealing with a topic

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