According to researchers, healthcare staff uses humor not only to decrease tension and frustration but also to make connection with patients.
It also makes the patients feel that they are cared as individuals.
Study co-author Dr Ruth Dean of the University of Manitoba and colleagues spent almost 300 hours observing and making interviews in an intensive care unit and a palliative care unit.
A patient reported she felt less distressed and embarrassment is reduced by an episode of incontinence when the nurse said a matter-of-fact humor, - "what goes in must come out".
Dr. Dean concluded that the research suggests that nurses and other healthcare professional don't need to suppress humor. They should trust their instincts about when it is appropriate.
The study appears in the April issue of the UK-based Journal of Clinical Nursing.
