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We’ve all heard the saying, “laughter is
the best medicine,” but just how can it help you through your day as a
traveling nurse?
Our first two weeks at a new assignment
has to be the toughest. It is at this time that I am trying to adjust to my
new surroundings, and make an impression that I really do know what I am are
talking about. In the first weeks, I have to prove that I am not into travel
nursing just go to from company to company to see how much I can get away
with. It is only after establishing that professional relationship that I
start mixing in a little humor.
A little humor can go a long ways in
making an assignment the best that it can be. Even with my worst assignment,
humor is what made my day worth getting up for. Not humor with the other
staff members, but humor with my patients. Staff was under a lot of stress
and anxiety, but my patients were well taken care of and smiling because I
was busy taking care of them with a little bit of everyday humor.
On the second day that I have a patient, I
can usually gain a smile by asking, “Can I listen to see if your heart is
beating today?”
This simple attempt at humor will give me
a feel about how well the patient is going to accept humor. With some
patients that is the start of a wonderful humor relationship, and with
others they let me know right quick, that they are not in the mood for my
little antics.
Some of my most memorable patients haven’t
been those that are grumpy, but those patients that I have laughed with
through their many days at the hospital. Not only does this elevate my
patient’s mood, but it also has been proven to make a difference in muscle
relaxation, neuropeptide release which effects depression, vasodilatation
which reduces hypertension and it also has the most effect on the hardening
of attitudes.
Many of the places I have been to want me
to extend not only because I’m there to work and do my job, but because of
the humor and positive attitude that I bring to the unit.
Someone was fumbling with the foil
surrounding a suppository the other day, and I just calmly walked over and
asked, “You know why they put on the directions to take off the foil…
because you KNOW that someone did NOT.” That little chuckle took away some
of the stress that she was having opening that silly packaging.
You don’t have to be a comedian to be a
humorist. Just keep your eyes open to everyday occurrences. You ever wonder
why they put the instructions on the hemorrhoid cream, “Do not take PO.”
Yes! Because someone, somewhere, was eating the hemorrhoid cream and
complaining to the company that it wasn’t helping their hemorrhoids, and
that they couldn’t eat anything larger than a jelly bean. And what ever
possessed the hospital to contract Seymour Butts to design hospital gowns?
Now that you’re smiling… take that smile
to work and make your co-workers and patients smile. |
