Humor Injections: A Humor and Healthcare Blog

Archive for August, 2009

How Do We Nurture Our Humor Development?

31 Aug, 2009  No Comment

Over the weekend, I was thinking about my own humor development.  When I was in high school, college, and into my early adulthood, I constantly looked for humor.  I read joke books, I watched David Letterman, I listened to comedy albums (black disc-shaped objects that played recorded music and words), I watched comedians on HBO, I told jokes to my friends, and I looked for funny things all around me.

As I have gotten older, I don’t seek out humor as much as when I was younger.  I make excuses that I’m too busy or that I have something else more pressing due or that I already have a good handle on humor.  And yet, being exposed to funny things is what keeps me happy, youthful, and in the proper state of mind.

Today, there is so much humor available to us, it’s impossible to say that we don’t have the opportunity to enjoy it.  So, let me encourage you to make sure you don’t neglect your humor development.

Take time to expose yourself, so to speak, to funny things.  Here are some options:

It doesn’t matter what makes you laugh.  The important thing is to laugh – often.

Ron

Healthcare Humor Website

20 Aug, 2009  No Comment

Check out the website of my friend and colleague David Glickman.  He does a hilarious customized program on bringing humor into healthcare.

www.HealthcareHumor.com

Ron

A Bank That Recognizes the Economy

19 Aug, 2009  No Comment

This falls into the category of keep your eyes open for funny stuff.

Check out Tightwad Bank.  It’s a real bank in Tightwad, Missouri.

That’s just awesome.

Ron

Brian Regan Keeps It Clean So We Can Too

11 Aug, 2009  No Comment

I’ve said it before.  I’m a big fan of Brian Regan.  His show may be the funniest stand-up comedy show I’ve ever seen.  And the best part? It’s clean enough for my kids.

In April, he was interviewed for an article on CNN.com.  If you’d like to read the entire interview, go here:  Brian Regan CNN Interview

Now, let me be clear.  I like all humor.  I consider myself a humor purist and I’ve never been offended by a joke (although Sarah Silverman has made me squirm).  So, I’m not anti-off-color humor.  Rude humor has its place in the wide spectrum and long history of comedy.  But to me, clean humor is cleverer and has more appeal.  Therefore, it has more potential for adding fun to the work environment.

When asked why he is clean, Brian Regan said, “I used to have a few jokes here and there with a four-letter word in it.  I was always 90 to 95 percent clean with my jokes anyways, and I’m kind of anal so, why be 95 percent something when you could be 100 percent something.  It worked out, and people really seem to respond to it so I guess that other 5 percent wasn’t that important anyways.”

I can do off-color humor but why should I?  If clean humor appeals to most people and off-color humor appeals to a smaller group of people, I’d rather go for the masses.

There’s not even a question about this in the work environment.  Time and time again, I hear from people who are offended by a coworker’s off-color humor and don’t know what to do about it.  It’s as if the person is unaware that his/her humor might be offensive.  I think a lot of people are like this.  In fact, after presentations, audience members will often come up and tell me a joke.  Sometimes it’s totally rude and I’m thinking, “I can’t beleive you just told me that!”

So, when you’re incorporating humor into your work or you’re sharing a joke with a colleague, ask yourself, “Could this be offensive?”  If the answer is yes or you’re not sure, don’t do it.  Save that rude humor for those friends and family who will love you anyway!

Ron

Making Healthcare Learning Fun

6 Aug, 2009  No Comment

I don’t usually hear healthcare staff say, “Man, that orientation program was so much fun.”  Typically, staff orientation programs are an overdose of information and terminally serious.  With all the concern about risk management, instructors have to make sure that staff learn the right way to do things.  But it’s possible that learning and fun can coexist.

Perry Memorial Hospital in Princeton, IL has created a way of teaching mistakes (not how to make them but how to avoid them) by creating a “room of horrors.”  See the article here:  Room of Horrors.

The idea is based on the game I Spy where kids try to find things hidden in their environment.  At Perry, the hidden surprises are more than 80 safety problems in a mock patient room.  From an open wound to a misplaced medical record, new staff are instructed to find all the problems.

So you see, learning doesn’t have to be boring and monotonous.  And while healthcare procedures are not kids-play, they can be just as fun – and as effective.

Ron

Healing With Humor

4 Aug, 2009  No Comment

There is a lot of theoretical and empirical information showing that humor helps us physically, socially, psychologically, and even spiritually.  But really, who cares?  A theory is fine but but if you don’t implement it, what good is it?  What most of us want are real-life solutions to real-life problems.

That’s what I loved about the recent article in the Washington Post that showed how injured veterans at Walter Reed Hospital use humor to cope with their situations.  Here’s the full article:  Healing with Humor.

Essentially, these patients, who are often amputees, are using humor to ease the effects of their recovery and integration back into society.  More specifically, the humor comes in handy when battling the stares, the comments, and the fears of other people.

One Staff Sgt, who lost both legs in Iraq, joked, “What’s an amputee’s favorite restaurant?  IHOP.”

You may have a negative reaction to that kind of humor but remember, this is his daily existence.  He chooses to see the humor even if it is a bit on the edge.  Basically, we all have a choice as to how we deal with life’s challenges.  We can see the humor in them – or not.  If we choose not to see the humor, one soldier suggests, “that can lead down a very dark road.”

These guys are using humor to create a distance from stress and to create a connection to others.  it’s the opposite of a laxative, by the way, which relieves stress but creates a barrier to others!  But I digress.

The soldiers at Walter Reed are onto something very powerful.  Those of us who don’t have to deal with injuries and amputations could learn a lot from them.

Ron