Monday, September 12, 2005

Laughter is the Best Medicine

A panel of Doctors was asked to vote on adding a new wing to their hospital...

The Allergists voted to scratch it and the Dermatologists advised no rash moves.
The Gastroenterologists had a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve, and the Obstetricians stated that they were all labouring under a misconception.
The Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted; the Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!", while the Paediatricians said, "Grow up!"
The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness; the Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing, and the Radiologists could see right through it.
Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow; Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter."
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water.
The Anaesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.
And in the end, the Proctologists left the decision up to some arsehole.

'Finding your funny bone' has more information on the importance of humour in medical practice, as does this BBC article.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have found that some of the most brilliant doctors are those that put their patients at ease with their sense of humour.

As the BBC article you referenced states, doctors can say "I daily pump my patients full of medicines" but the patients that do best tend to be those who are optimistic, have a stong social network, and those who have a jovial manner about them. In this respect, it cannot hurt for a doctor to "pump his patients" full of humour.

Thanks for the article!

aj said...

How ironic. This morning I presented an intracondylar fracture - involving the so-called 'funny-bone' - of the elbow very badly in the Trauma Meeting. I knew that post would come back to haunt me!