Humor in Nursing

Nurses and other healthcare professionals take care of patients of all ages and backgrounds. It is extremely important for a nurse to create a good relationship with their patient in order to establish trust. There may be unique ways to engage in a healthy and professional patient relationship that nurses can leverage. I want to explore the idea of how incorporating humor and laughter in the healthcare setting would, or would not, positively affect the body physically and psychologically. Eight peer-reviewed, scholarly articles about this topic were reviewed. This research will create an opportunity for nurses to learn more ways for a deeper relationship with their patients to promote a safe and comfortable experience, how to cope with their own stress, and build team comradery through humor. There is a gap in research about attitudes nursing students and practicing nurses portray when using humor at the bedside. Based on the information synthesized from the articles, this project describes a potential evidence-based practice change project using the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) model. This model can be used as a means of implementing evidence-based research into the clinical setting to increase humor used by staff to increase patient outcomes and decrease anxiety. If found effective, the age-old concept of “laughter is the best medicine” has the potential to aid healthcare workers to improve their care by passing on their innate humor to their patients.