HumorInNursingFinalPodcast

The podcast discusses the use of humor in the nursing profession. Research shows that humor can regulate emotions, ease tension, and improve relationships and communication. There is uncertainty about the level of professionalism associated with using humor in nursing. The interview with a retired nurse and a current nurse reveals that humor can have a positive impact on patients and help them cope with stress or burnout. It also strengthens relationships and improves communication among nurses. Humor is seen as a way to connect and create a positive environment in the workplace. Hello! Welcome to the podcast. My name is Ashton Wieser, and today I will be discussing the use of humor in the nursing profession. Over this last month, I have been doing a lot of research which has led me to understand the benefits that the use of humor in nursing has on physical aspects and relationships. For example, according to Cadiz and Ball, some of the benefits I've learned about are that humor can regulate emotions, can ease tension, builds and strengthens relationships, improves communication, and many other things. On the contrary, I found that it is also a common question whether the use of humor in the nursing profession is deemed as professional or not. The professionalism aspect of my research really got me thinking and wondering if that's really something that nurses tend to worry about when using humor in their profession. Ever since I was little, I always wanted to become a nurse. It runs in my family, and currently I am at school to get a higher education in order to become a nurse. On this episode, I will be interviewing my grandma, who is a retired nurse, my mom, who is currently a nurse, and my roommate, who is also going to college to become a nurse, who isn't one yet. I am very curious to hear about what each generation has to say about the research that I've done and their perspectives on all the things that I've found. First, we have my grandma, who is a retired nurse. State your name, generation, and how long you were a nurse for. Hi, my name is Julie Perry. I was a registered nurse for 42 1⁄2 years and retired in 2016. Perfect. Now, what do you think about the use of humor in the nursing profession? I think it's extremely important for the patient interacting with the nurse, and it gives them a more uplifting, positive attitude, which helps with healing. Yes, it does. Well, according to the article, Enhancing the Nurse-Patient Relationship with Humor, and according to today, they both discuss the uncertainty about the level of professionalism that comes with using humor in a workplace. Did you ever have any experiences where you were worried that your professionalism was at stake? No, I never did. I always felt that my patient-nurse relationship was very positive. I tend to be a very positive person, try to make the patient feel more positive about their outcome of whatever problem that they're having in the hospital setting. That's awesome. Yeah, that's a great way to go about it. According to Sosa and Cadiz, they suggest that when nurses use humor, it strengthens relationships between nurses and their patients. Do you feel like when you use humor with your patients, it strengthens your relationship with them? Absolutely. Absolutely. They would laugh at my jokes, and I would laugh at their jokes, and we would tease each other and make them feel more comfortable. Yeah, it's definitely probably a helpful thing to have, especially when you're going through something that, you know, might be very interesting. It helps them to relax and feel more positive. So do you think that this helps strengthen your relationship with your patients then, when you use humor with them? Oh, definitely. All right. According to Tanay, nurses use humor not only as a way to strengthen their relationships with their patients, but also to help them cope with stress or burnout. Do you ever feel like you experienced any type of burnout when you were working? No, I really didn't, because I always have been a very positive person. Yeah. And I've always kept negativity out of my psyche. Yeah. And so, no, I never really felt burned out at all. I've always felt that I got back so much more than I ever gave in my nursing career, and that it was so rewarding. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I feel like you're a very positive person, too, and I feel like you always seem to look on the bright side, and you always try and make things positive for other people, too. Yeah. So I feel like you're never really a negative person, and you never bring that to someone else. Right. All right, well, according to Ball, the use of humor in the nursing profession can improve communication and help employees to connect. Did you ever make friends through your work? All the time. Would you say that you made long-lasting relationships? Oh, yeah, years and years. Do you think that humor and laughter played a big role in your relationships? Definitely. Being funny and making people think positively or to laugh about things is an attractive quality in a person. Yes, I agree with that. I think that it's a very appealing quality to have, and it's a great way to connect with others. Amen. Well, I think that those are all of the questions I have for you. I hope my answers have been good. You did. You did great. And thank you for coming on here today. Next we are going to go on to interviewing our current generation, which for this I will be interviewing my mom. So I'll have you start by stating your name, your generation, and how long you've been a nurse for. My name is Sheena Stone. I have been a nurse for 14 years, and I am still currently working as a nurse. What do you think about the use of humor in the nursing profession? I think laughter is the best medicine, and I also feel like you have to understand where your patient is at as well. You have to have, like, a keen sense of the person to be able to use the humor, and it depends on the situation, obviously. Yeah. Well, according to SOFA and the article Enhancing the Nurse-Patient Relationship with Humor, they both discuss the uncertainty about the level of professionalism that comes with using humor in the workplace. Did you ever have experiences where you tended to hold back your use of humor because you felt it may be unprofessional to use it at a certain time? Yes. Like I said earlier, it definitely depends on the person and the situation, and to be able to know when it's more appropriate and less appropriate. Yeah. Do you have any examples of, like, when you may, like, decide that, like, this situation wouldn't be a good time to use humor? Like when somebody is getting bad news. Yeah. I found that in my articles they said, like, examples like that too. Like when someone is about to get bad news or when they just received bad news, like it's not a good idea, obviously, to do that, which is kind of common sense in my opinion, but, you know. Yes. According to Wallich and Cadiz, they suggest that when nurses use humor, it strengthens relationships between nurses and their patients. Do you feel like when you use humor with your patients, it strengthens your relationship with them? Yes. I feel like sometimes it's a good way to break the ice and to know that we're all human and I just think laughing is a good thing for people. And a lot of times people actually end up like where I worked in the ER because they're just lonely and a lot of people come there because of that because they don't have other people and they find comfort just knowing that people are there to care for them, even if it's not truly an emergency. Yeah. I think that makes a lot of sense. And, obviously, with your experience with different kinds of different areas, like oncology and, like you said, ER and different things, you see a lot of different people in different things, situations. So according to Tanay, nurses use humor not only as a way to strengthen their relationship with patients, but also to help them with stress or burnout. Do you feel like you've ever experienced any kind of burnout when you were working? Yes, definitely. Did humor ever help you push through those hard times or did you ever use humor to lighten your mood? All the time. Yeah, I feel like you're just like Grandma. I mean, obviously, you're her daughter, but we kind of talked about the similar thing. You're kind of more of a positive person. You're always going to stay positive and make jokes rather than bringing the negativity into someone else's room. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like this one time, I was in a trauma, and there was a guy named Jake in there. Literally, they just said, like, hey, Jake. And I was like, Jake from State Farm? I said it out loud. And I was like, ah. So people laughed. So it all worked out. Yeah, and I mean, in the heat of the moment, it probably sparks a little bit of laughter in a time that might not have been the happiest moment. It was just kind of a little pick-me-up. Right, and there was not, like, any family members or anything. Yeah. Just a bunch of nurses and doctors and whatever. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, it's, like, nice to have a way for nurses to, you know, bond and for them to, like, have their own way of getting through different situations. Like, you guys are a group, and you, like, work together. Yeah. So according to Ball, the use of humor in the nursing profession can improve communication and helps employees to connect. Did you ever make friends throughout your work? Yes. Do you think that humor and laughter played a role in that? Oh, yes. Yeah? Yeah. This one time we had a girl come in, and she said she just got out of jail. She said when they were in jail, they told her she was three weeks pregnant. You can't really tell when you're three weeks pregnant because they don't detect it usually until, like, you know, like five days before your miscarriage or something. So then we asked her, well, how pregnant are you now? And she said three weeks. And she was just so serious, and me and Abby were just looking at each other. Like, obviously, she couldn't see us looking at each other, but we were both, like, I was dying laughing, like, behind the bed. Yeah. And it was terrible. Yeah. It was so bizarre. And she still wanted us to tell her boyfriend that she was pregnant. We're like, you're just negative. Like, we don't know what you want us to say. Yeah, that's interesting. That's funny. Yeah. See, like, and that makes total sense. Like, even just, like, me as a person, like, I feel like when I make jokes or something funny happens, like, I feel more connected to that person just because we experienced that together. It was just funny, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Better than, like, silence, like, awkward silence or, like, nothing, you know what I mean? Or, like, just very, like, sad talk or depressive talk. Yeah. Monotone talk. I feel like you just, I feel better when I'm smiling or laughing. Yeah. And I feel like most other people do too. Again, you know, at appropriate times. Yes. Exactly. Yeah, so that's all I have for you today. Thank you for being on my podcast. You're welcome. The next person I will be interviewing is the future generation nurse who is my roommate and best friend. I'll start by having you say your name and your generation. I'm Aubrey Hayworth, and I'm going to be a nurse in the future. What do you think about the use of humor in the nursing profession? I think it's a necessity because hospitals can be a sad place, and I don't want to work in a sad place for the rest of my life, so there has to be laughter. You want to, like, keep it good spirited. Good spirit. So according to Sosa and the article Enhancing the Nurse-Patient Relationship with Humor, they both discuss the uncertainty about the level of professionalism that comes with using humor in a workplace. Do you think that in your future career that you will be cautious of your use of humor with patients to ensure your professionalism? Yeah, because if people get the joke, that's probably really offensive. Good point. And these days you can, like, lose your job for that. Yes. I feel like the people that are, like, coming in the future too, they're so weird about everything. Like, they'll probably sue you for, like, the dumbest things. Seriously. Yeah, exactly. That's how I feel too. Like, also as a future nurse. Can't joke too much. Do you have any examples of some instances where you may choose not to use humor? I don't know if I'll ever have to do this, but if I had to, like, tell someone that I have cancer, I wouldn't laugh. Yeah, I agree with that. I think that'll be something that I would hold back from too. According to Wallach and Cadiz, they suggest that when nurses use humor, it strengthens relationships between nurses and their patients. Even though you aren't able to speak from experience in the profession, do you feel like using humor helps strengthen your relationships on a day-to-day basis? Yeah, I do. But I feel like some people, like, it's different for a lot of people. Like, some people aren't funny and they don't like humor. Like, seriously. And you just have to get to know your patient before you probably use humor. But because I want to be a nurse practitioner, and my grandma loves her nurse practitioner, and they, like, tell jokes all the time. But my grandma's also, like, funny, and she likes humor. She likes someone who can, like, make something positive even if it can, like, come across as negative, you know? And that's kind of how I want to be. I don't want to be some negative nelly. Yeah, I agree with that. Like, I think that it's important to stay positive, to keep people's spirits up, and to not always be negative. But like you said, also keep in mind that not everyone wants the same thing. Some people just want to hear the truth and that's it. Yeah, that makes sense. And I feel like there's definitely people out there who don't like that too. Okay, well then, you're done. So thank you for being on my podcast. Yeah. That concludes my episode for today. Overall, my research was very informative, and as someone who strives to be a future nurse, I think that after doing research, using humor in healthcare professions is very beneficial. It really helped me to hear the perspectives of others, especially people that I love and I trust and I care about. I will be taking all of the information that I've learned throughout this project into consideration when I do become a nurse in my future. I find it interesting that my grandma, who is an older generation nurse, really didn't feel that there was any unprofessionalism with using humor in the workplace, whereas especially a future nurse really felt that it was important that you read the room and you pay attention to those social cues to know when you should and shouldn't use humor to ensure that you are using it at a professional level because it's just something that's happening more these days than in the past. Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoyed.