Slide 1: Humor in Medicine Or Medicine is the Best Laughter
Slide 2: “A merry heart doeth good like medicine, but a downcast spirit drieth up the bones.” Proverbs 17.22
Slide 3: Victor S. Sierpina, MD Associate Professor Family Medicine UTMB formerly “The Country Doc”
Slide 5: “The arrival of a clown exercises more beneficial influence upon the health of a town than 20 asses laden with drugs.” Thomas Sydenham
Slide 6: “Be a good listener - you never learn much from talking.” - Will Rogers
Slide 7: EXERCISE  Turn to the person next to you and either…. – Share a funny moment from your childhood – Tell a patient story that was really funny – Tell a story of healing with humor – Tell your favorite joke  LAUGH OUT LOUD!!
Slide 8: “To provoke laughter is to encourage health.” - Francis Rabelais
Slide 9: Types of Humor  Superiority theory  Incongruity (surprise) theory  Release/relief theory  Divinity theory Dossey, Altern Ther 1996 (handout)
Slide 10: Reported Benefits of Humor on Medical Conditions     Fewer complications after MI (Tan) Improved immunocompetence (Berk) Diminished pain (Cousins) Improves allostasis in response to stress(McEwen) Tan, Can J Cardiol 1997 Berk, Alter Ther 2001 Cousins, NEJM 1976 McEwen, NEJM 1998 6. 7. 8. 9.
Slide 11: Further Benefits of Humor  Enhanced creativity (Koestler)  Improved sense of self control (Wooten) 6. 7. Koestler, Act of Creation 1964 Wooten, Holistic Nurse Prac 1996
Slide 12: He who laughs, lasts. - Mary Pettibone Poole
Slide 14: Those who cannot laugh at themselves leave the job for others.
Slide 15: Middle age is having a choice of two temptations and choosing the one that will get you home earlier.
Slide 16: Humor in the Clinical Setting  Facilitates social interaction  Evokes confidence  Helps reduce stress  Encourages the healing response  Reduces provider burnout
Slide 18: I intend to live forever so far so good
Slide 20: The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
Slide 21: Some Ways of Using Humor In Medicine  Most effective ways are conversational, situational  Twinkling eye contact, gentle amusement  Be sure the patient knows your tenderness before joking (Patch Adams)
Slide 22: Using Humor in Practice  Jokes can be appropriate  Clown therapists in children’s hospitals, nursing homes, AIDS clinics  Comedy cart, videos, comics, props, makeup, costumes
Slide 23: Tips for Using Humor— Onstage or in Clinic--Stu Silverstein, MD www.mdhumor.com  Avoid racist, sexist  Pause before the punch material  Make it relevant  Memorize important lines  Punch line last line  Never announce you are doing a joke  Keep it brief  Prepare for “ad libs”
Slide 24: “We may already be too late, Mr. Parker.”
Slide 25: Don’t be inappropriate in your use of Humor  Humor requires good communication skills and sensitivity to avoid appearing callous, uncaring  Avoid laughing at someone rather than with them  Never make light of another’s suffering
Slide 27: Caution from Norman Cousins “..it would be an error…to suggest that laughter—or the positive emotions in general—have universal or automatic validity, whatever the circumstances.People respond differently to the same things. One man’s humor is another man’s ho-hum. The treatment of illness has to be carefully tailored to suit the individual patient.” Cousins, Head First: The Biology of Hope 1989
Slide 28: More from Cousins and Cosby  Humor is a metaphor for a gamut of emotions, not just jocularity (Cousins)  “If you can laugh at it, you can survive it.” (Cosby)
Slide 31: “In appearance, let the physician be of a serious but not a harsh countenance; for harshness is taken to mean arrogance and unkindness. A man of uncontrolled laughter and excessive gaiety is considered vulgar, and vulgarity especially must be avoided.” - Hippocrates
Slide 32: “More mistakes in medicine are made by those who do not care, that by those who do not know.” - Allen Gregg
Slide 33: A conclusion is the place you got tired of thinking.