Humor plays an important role in healthcare even when patients are term...(r dissatisfaction with the situation. ...),Health

However, the researchers also found that humour could also create distance and prevent serious discussion. As one nurse commented: If Im joking with you, Im interacting with you. Were talking but I dont ask you whats bugging you...Im not really finding out why youre upset.

It wasnt just the healthcare staff who used humour to alleviate difficult situations.

One nurse recalled admiring an expensive recliner chair a patient had brought in with her to the palliative care unit. The patient was delighted that she didnt have to pay a cent for two years and quipped that in that case she would never have to pay for it!

Another recalled how a patients monitor kept going off in the intensive care unit. Dont worry, if I can hear it Im still alive the patient joked.

Then there was the satisfaction that staff felt when they saw a patient smile. It makes you feel youve done something, if not medically, maybe emotionally said one nurse.

Some people feel that humour is trivial and unprofessional in healthcare settings, but this study shows that it is neither says co-author Dr Ruth Dean, a nurse researcher from the University of Manitoba.

Dr Dean carried out the study in the palliative c
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