[nurse hobbit]

I love to use humor when the timing is right, most of my pts are elderly, CHF, RENAL, IDDM and usually have a telemetry monitor when arriving to the floor. So I walk in the room with a big smile, and begin( unless the situation doesn't warrant it) " well hello young man /young lady welcome to the Hilton Hotel, bet you didn't know that big blue H on the front of the building outside stod for Hotel intead of hospital uh? Usually the men say, it has been a long time since a pretty youg girl called me young man.
Or if I have to go replace a telemetry lead , I always ask them if I can hook the jumper cables back up and they will smile and laugh and reply you're right they do look like jumper-cables. come to think of it.
Or I tell them I have to wake them up to give them a sleeping pill and never did understand that one.
Yes there are times I do not use humor due to the seriousness (sp) of the situation.
For the most part, most my pts tell me how good it is to see someone smile as they walk in there rooms. Them telling me this helps with the stress and reminds me of one of the reasons I became a nurse.

[JustaPatient]

as a patient i like it when my nurses make jokes.

[super_star]

yeah,we have to use humor with the patients.I always does that with patients as well as withh friends.It help to ease the pain. sometimes I sing and sometimes i joke with them.
patients sometimes refer me as nurse that always laugh.

[NephroBSN]

Originally Posted by nurse hobbit

I love to use humor when the timing is right, most of my pts are elderly, CHF, RENAL, IDDM and usually have a telemetry monitor when arriving to the floor. So I walk in the room with a big smile, and begin( unless the situation doesn't warrant it) " well hello young man /young lady welcome to the Hilton Hotel, bet you didn't know that big blue H on the front of the building outside stod for Hotel intead of hospital uh? Usually the men say, it has been a long time since a pretty youg girl called me young man.
Or if I have to go replace a telemetry lead , I always ask them if I can hook the jumper cables back up and they will smile and laugh and reply you're right they do look like jumper-cables. come to think of it.
Or I tell them I have to wake them up to give them a sleeping pill and never did understand that one.
Yes there are times I do not use humor due to the seriousness (sp) of the situation.
For the most part, most my pts tell me how good it is to see someone smile as they walk in there rooms. Them telling me this helps with the stress and reminds me of one of the reasons I became a nurse.

I always call my patients young lady or young man. Many do a double take.. Then they look at me and realize they are young..LOLLL

I also tell them "Now you know how I should be addressed".. It's all self-fulfilling...heheheheh.

[TRAUMARN96]

Yes. I use humor all the time. You just need to know who your audience is first, or you could be found offensive.

[emllpn2006]

I try to use humor any time I feel it is appropriate. One time as a student I had this wonderfull patient that was relatively young and had cancer that had been passed around to all the students as we rotated off and on the floor. While me and a partner were bathing him he was unclothed and getting washed we rolled him on his side to wash his back. One of us would hold his arms and keep him on his side while the other one washed. He pretended to dance with us the whole bath. After getting him dressed he said to bad he had to wait until he was on his dath bed to get to dance naked with two beautiful women.

[SamHill]

Yes. All the time. One bit that I do all the time is that when we are transporting a post-op from the gurney to the bed, I do the standard routine "Cross your arms, let us do all the work. On the count of three we will pull you over. When I say 'three', I want you to say "Weeeeeee"." Most do it. The ones that don't I usually say 'That wasn't too bad was it?" When they say "No", I'll ask if they want to do it again? Most respond with an emphatic 'NOOO!'.

[Sunny01]

Originally Posted by wiz4648

I charge night shift and along with humor I try very hard to guard our patients' sleep. That is extremely hard to do, however, for obvious reasons. When I must go in to disturb their sleep I usually use the standard joke with them that I'll be back in after they've gone to sleep to give them a sleeping pill. It eases the annoyance a bit, usually.

I like that joke! I will use it with my patients now that I know it...he he. I usually try and use humor, see how the patient responds, then use it some more. Most of the patients enjoy it and I love seeing a smile on their faces.

[EmerNurse]

I am fortunate enough to work with an amazing crew of nurses, techs, secretary and admit folks. I very very frequently use humor with patients (when appropriate of course),and there are times, when myself and a tech perhaps, and whoever else will all be around the patient at once. Heaven help the dear patient, who gets a private showing of one of our impromptu comedy routines! LOL - I have a great group of co-workers, we know each other and can play off each other relentlessly.

You get the "hey bob, wow those are great veins!" Pt smiles! "Great? get the garden hose catheter, I always wanted to try that one!" "OH no you don't, last time you did that I limped for a week!" At this point the patient generally has lost it and we have too - and they're IV'd, lab'd up, cathed, on the monitor, vital signed and ready to rock. We sure do have fun.

Mind - ONLY when appropriate - we guage our behavior on patient cues and start *gently*. If it doesn't seem to fly, we get calm, comforting and more serious.

Half the reason I love my job is my great co-workers!

[Kidrn911]

depends on situation