laughter makes everything so much easier

I keep finding that the docs I work with use humor to diffuse the stresses of our days. It's a relief since it's one of the mechanisms I use most frequently.

We tease couples who have been married for more than 60 years for not listening to each other.

We pretend that we are going to use the largest needle possible to perform a digital block.

We talk about patients who make us nuts in humorous, if dark, ways.

We find reasons to laugh with our terminal patients - their loss of hair, inability to control their farts, whatever joke the patient has made at their own (or our) expense.

Patients use humor defensively as well. It's one of the few ways they are able to speak the same language as their docs.