Major
Nursing
Advisor
Kristin Magan
Advisor Department
Nursing, College of
Date
5-2024
Keywords
nurse; humor; pediatrics; laughter; health
Abstract
We often turn to humor when we’re feeling sad or want to be distracted. Things that make us laugh can be a great escape from a hard moment and enhance the joy in a great moment. In the life of a young patient in the hospital, humor is one of the few things they can use to cope. In this project, I reviewed the literature to explore how laughing can impact health and if it could benefit a patient in the long-term. It turns out that laughter can positively impact a person’s health in several ways. Using humor in patient-to-provider relationships can enhance bonding, promote trust, and create a comfortable milieu for both parties. After this information was gathered, a survey was created and disseminated to a select pool of nurses at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. This survey was intended to gather data surrounding a pediatric nurse’s use of humor with children and their families. The survey was completed anonymously by a sample of female nurses with a range of nursing experience. One surprising finding from this survey was that out of multiple age groups, nurses reported that adolescents benefit most from humorous interactions. Participants revealed that nurses are rarely taught to use humor, if at all, when communicating with patients. The survey illustrated how nurses have varying opinions on when to use humor with their patients, but all of them use it in some capacity. I learned, when used wisely, laughter truly may be the best medicine.