We use humour with patients to lighten the mood, or simply to show we are human. The gastroenterologists had a gut feeling about it, but the neurologists thought hospital management had a lot of nerve, while the the obstetricians stated they were labouring under a misconception. The anaesthetists thought the whole idea was a bit of gas, while the cardiologists didn’t have the heart to say no. From nearly 300 hours of observations, the researchers found that humour served to “enable co-operation, relieve tensions, develop emotional flexibility, and to ‘humanise’ the healthcare experience”. And Launer’s concluding message in his review of humour in medicine is a simple one: carry on laughing.

Source: The Irish Times May 03, 2021 04:52 UTC