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Tuning in to Humor in Nursing

1. Nurses Don’t Have to Make This Stuff Up

Photo by Kah Lok Leong on Unsplash

During a fire drill the nurse, Kathryn, was closing doors to patients’ rooms. An 86-year-old patient was talking on the phone to her daughter when Kathryn reached her room. As Kathryn started to shut the patient’s door, the woman asked, “What’s that ringing noise?”

“Don’t worry,” Kathryn said. “We’re just having a little fire drill.”

As she was leaving, Kathryn heard the woman tell her daughter, “No, everything’s just fine, dear. The hospital’s on fire but a nice little nurse just came to lock me in my room.”

Having worked as a nurse, as well as having interviewed hundreds of nurses over the years, I can attest that you don’t have to make this stuff up. Yet nurses from coast to coast right now are telling me, “There’s nothing funny happening in my life.”

Having studied the brain and humor for decades, I can tell you that if that is your belief, that will also be your reality. Telling yourself there’s nothing funny around you will wire your reticular activating system to show you just that—nothing funny.

Even during times of chaos—overwhelming patient census, lack of resources, staffing shortages—humorous […]

2023-03-07T13:20:16-05:00March 7th, 2023|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing stories|2 Comments
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Why Spiritual Care?

Staying connected to something greater.

Photo courtesy of Pexels/Pixabay.

In a world that is constantly asking more of us, how can we stay connected to ourselves, to something greater, to a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives? This question guides most of my work, and my personal practices. Across years of conducting mixed-methods research to explore the role of spirituality among people with cancer, I am constantly presented with ways where our connection to spirit is challenged, and ways that we can remain connected amidst the very real pain, challenge, busyness, stress, and burnout of this modern world.

Making time and space for spirituality may seem elusive or impractical, especially when considering the limitations on our time and capacities. Along with co-authors Katie Addicott, MSN, FNP-C, ACHPN, and William E. Rosa, PhD, MBE, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, my hope for this recent piece in the American Journal of Nursing is to highlight simple, practical, and enjoyable ways to incorporate spirituality into everyday life and everyday nursing care, with the intention of supporting our own well-being and the well-being of patients and families we work with.

Defining spirituality 

While various definitions have been offered, “spirituality” generally refers to a human experience of connection with […]

2023-02-21T10:51:33-05:00February 21st, 2023|end of life, Nursing, Palliative care|0 Comments
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40-years of Forensic Nursing and Current Opportunities in Remote Sexual Assault Care

Remembering an influential article.

Patricia Speck

Timing is everything. Forensic nursing service through telehealth is possible today, as reported in a recent Kaiser Health News story, but it wasn’t always that way. Fifty years ago, Ann W. Burgess, a psychiatric–mental health nurse working in the emergency room, wrote a paper with a sociologist colleague about what she was seeing in patients who complained of being raped. “The Rape Victim in the Emergency Ward” (pdf), published in AJN, was reported nationally and informed 1970s kitchen table conversations about what rape is, is not, and when “no means no.”

Naming the trauma and its effects.

The ideas in this article were new at the time. Burgess wrote that sexual assault causes acute emotional trauma, requiring time for recovery, and she named phases of what she eventually called “rape trauma syndrome.” Prior to the article, victims of sexual assault often did not report the assault, and when they did they waited hours for a newly minted physician intern who had been punished with “rape-duty.” These physicians had no knowledge about what to do.

In accordance with societal views at the time, victims were often blamed for their rape—the way you dress, how you act, […]

2023-02-17T10:40:20-05:00February 17th, 2023|digital health, nursing roles, patient experience, Public health|2 Comments
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Collaborating with Medical Interpreters: Best Practices for LEP Patients

Limited English proficiency and adverse event risk.

As a native San Franciscan, I grew up surrounded by bilingual people who represented cultures from all over the world. It is a privilege for me to be surrounded by such rich diversity, but many patients who are limited English proficient (LEP) are at risk for adverse events once they enter a health care setting. Identifying a patient’s preferred language at the initial point of entry can ensure that resources are available to support the patient as they navigate the health care system. Medical interpreters are vital to our LEP patients and serve as a bridge for translating both language and other crucial cross-cultural elements of communication.

Letting patients and families know their rights.

Providing interpreting services reduces health inequities for LEP patients and is also required by Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act (1964). This law states that hospitals that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must notify LEP patients of the availability of free interpreting services, which should not include their own friends and family. As nurses, we must advocate for our patients who may not be aware of their rights and may have fears about perceived consequences if they admit to not being proficient in English. Perform a […]

2023-02-13T10:32:40-05:00February 13th, 2023|Nursing, patient engagement, Patients|1 Comment
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When Studying Mental Illness in Nurses Means Studying Yourself

Carrying the burden of depression as a nurse.

As I read Anna’s (not her real name) description of how much effort it took to drag herself into work, how much she felt like a burden to her family, and her fear of being “found out,” tears welled up.

“I know,” I said to myself.

I was analyzing an interview transcript for a qualitative study of psychiatric-mental health nurses (PMHNs) who have experienced mental illness. More specifically, my colleagues and I wanted to know how their illnesses impacted their work as nurses.

I have been a PMHN for over 40 years, with an even longer experience of a mental illness. I recognized many of the participants’ stories in my study as my own, but none affected me the way hers did. An alarm bell inside my head went off. If I couldn’t create a clear boundary in my mind between Anna’s experiences and my own, I might be at risk of unduly influencing the study results.

Reflecting on shared experiences of depression.

I was grateful that a colleague was also analyzing these transcripts; to minimize the effects of my own potential bias, I took the opportunity to write down my thoughts and feelings in my reflexivity journal. This is […]

2023-02-02T10:33:57-05:00February 2nd, 2023|mental illness, Nursing, patient experience|1 Comment
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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