Black Humour

pixiestudent2 · Apr 12, 2015

I laughed really really hard at this.

Then I felt awful for laughing so hard....

CamillusRN, BSN · Apr 12, 2015

We had a patient pass away whose initials were E.T.

"E.T. go home!"

Brown-Hughes RN · Apr 12, 2015

Unprofessional!

CamillusRN, BSN · Apr 12, 2015

Oh, come now. Surely you've developed a dark sense of humor that helps you cope through the loss of a patient?

One of the hospice nurses I used to work with said one of her patients died happy with his face in a taco (choked on Mexican food). Now THAT was unprofessional.

ixchel · Apr 12, 2015

I have a dark and twisty sense of humor. I try to keep it to myself in mixed company. One of these day I'm going to land myself in the hot seat. Honestly, though, I think to an extent it helps shake off a bad day.

CamillusRN, BSN · Apr 12, 2015

I have a dark and twisty sense of humor. I try to keep it to myself in mixed company. One of these day I'm going to land myself in the hot seat. Honestly, though, I think to an extent it helps shake off a bad day.

I think you and the OP are dead-on (no pun intended :roflmao: ) - only other healthcare professionals will understand. Anyone else, and you're a cold-hearted and unprofessional freak.

middleagednurse · Apr 12, 2015

One day I had a patient who was declining and I was humming that Queen song in my head. I LOVE Queen and like to blast their CD when I'm driving.

Brown-Hughes RN · Apr 12, 2015

I think you and the OP are dead-on (no pun intended ) - only other healthcare professionals will understand. Anyone else, and you're a cold-hearted and unprofessional freak.

Actually, I have a great sense of humor! I just don't think making fun at the expense of someone's death is appropriate. I never called anyone cold-hearted or a freak but maybe somewhere in the back of your mind, you know you're wrong.

Brown-Hughes RN · Apr 12, 2015

Oh, come now. Surely you've developed a dark sense of humor that helps you cope through the loss of a patient?
One of the hospice nurses I used to work with said one of her patients died happy with his face in a taco (choked on Mexican food). Now THAT was unprofessional.

Fortunately CamillusRN, I haven't developed a dark sense of humor and I'm sure I will never poke fun at the death of a patient. There's plenty of other coping strategies that could be utilized, humor is just not the one. Put yourself in their families shoes.....

CamillusRN, BSN · Apr 12, 2015

Fortunately CamillusRN, I haven't developed a dark sense of humor and I'm sure I will never poke fun at the death of a patient. There's plenty of other coping strategies that could be utilized, humor is just not the one. Put yourself in their families shoes.....

Please understand that I never "poke fun" at the death of a patient whose life was entrusted to me as soon as they came through my doors. I take every patient death seriously, and will be as somber as a judge when discussing arrangements with the family. I understand that death is an inevitable part of life, and it's something all nurses will have to deal with regardless of their specialty. Some specialties, however, deal with it more often than others.

I'm not sure what clinical setting you work in, but in Trauma/ER/ICU, we witness the types of death no-one should have to see. The blood, the screams, the futile gasping for air through a severed trachea, the smell of burning flesh and I could go on and on. This is the type of death we see on a fairly regular basis. If we weren't able to see at least one glimpse of humor through it, the level of burnout on these units would be far greater than it already is. When I see that mangled body on the table and the despair on the faces of my team, there is no psychologist at hand to relieve that feeling of failure when the patient dies. I can't project myself onto a peaceful island to blot out the mental image of carnage.

Humor was my coping strategy with the patient I mentioned because I had to picture a happy CGI character going home instead of the bleeding mass that used to be a young healthy teen with the rest of his life in front of him not even an hour earlier. When I laugh about something ironic or unusual regarding a patient's death, it's not because it's actually funny. It's so I'm not trying to comfort the kid's mother with my teeth clenched and fighting back a wave of expletives demanding to know why it was this kid that died and not the unharmed drunk that ran him over. It's how I can move on to my next patient that just rolled in without breaking.

I'm sorry if I sound calloused or heartless. This is not the type of thing I would ever write about on facebook or other social media. Only other healthcare professionals understand. I've posted a link to an article about death and coping in the ER. Please give it a read - it may help you understand where we're coming from. I wish you all the best.

http://news.nurse.com/article/20110221/NATIONAL01/102210041/-1/frontpage#.VSp4EvldWSo

Brown-Hughes RN · Apr 12, 2015

Please understand that I never "poke fun" at the death of a patient whose life was entrusted to me as soon as they came through my doors. I take every patient death seriously, and will be as somber as a judge when discussing arrangements with the family. I understand that death is an inevitable part of life, and it's something all nurses will have to deal with regardless of their specialty. Some specialties, however, deal with it more often than others.
I'm not sure what clinical setting you work in, but in Trauma/ER/ICU, we witness the types of death no-one should have to see. The blood, the screams, the futile gasping for air through a severed trachea, the smell of burning flesh and I could go on and on. This is the type of death we see on a fairly regular basis. If we weren't able to see at least one glimpse of humor through it, the level of burnout on these units would be far greater than it already is. When I see that mangled body on the table and the despair on the faces of my team, there is no psychologist at hand to relieve that feeling of failure when the patient dies. I can't project myself onto a peaceful island to blot out the mental image of carnage.
Humor was my coping strategy with the patient I mentioned because I had to picture a happy CGI character going home instead of the bleeding mass that used to be a young healthy teen with the rest of his life in front of him not even an hour earlier. When I laugh about something ironic or unusual regarding a patient's death, it's not because it's actually funny. It's so I'm not trying to comfort the kid's mother with my teeth clenched and fighting back a wave of expletives demanding to know why it was this kid that died and not the unharmed drunk that ran him over. It's how I can move on to my next patient that just rolled in without breaking.
I'm sorry if I sound calloused or heartless. This is not the type of thing I would ever write about on facebook or other social media. Only other healthcare professionals understand. I've posted a link to an article about death and coping in the ER. Please give it a read - it may help you understand where we're coming from. I wish you all the best.
http://news.nurse.com/article/20110221/NATIONAL01/102210041/-1/frontpage#.VSp4EvldWSo

You keep saying "only other healthcare professionals understand." I am a healthcare professional and I really don't

understand. BTW, I work in CC and have experience in trauma. So on that note, I wish you all the best and hope that one day you'll realize that not all "healthcare professionals" have a sense of black humor.