Entry #2: Humor in the ER

    In this week's entry, I will go a little in-depth about something that some people might find a little disturbing and difficult to wrap their heads around—having experience working in the ER as an emergency medical technician. Essentially, I work alongside nurses, carrying a wide range of responsibilities. These included performing CPR during codes, starting IVs on seriously ill patients, connecting critical patients to monitors so we can track their vitals from the nurse's station, assisting with trauma cases, and doing EKGs, among other tasks. This line of work can be extremely stressful, and sad at times, However, there's one thing that helps many of us get through it: dark humor.

    I know that the idea of joking about serious situations can seem morbid, but for many people in EMS (Emergency Medical Services) or healthcare, it's simply a way of coping with the challenges we face daily. One ICU nurse on Reddit put it perfectly:

"We all do, it's how we cope with death and

dying on a daily basis. The crap you see 

and hear about doctors and nurses getting

fired over being "inconsiderate" or similar

is HR trying to be PC instead of backing 

up its staff.

Poll 1000 nurses and 99% that are honest,

especially ICU nurses, will admit to a

jaded and dark side. We don't go around 

poking fun at patients but sometimes you 

are blunt and morbid when taking about

patients which can come across the wrong

way to someone outside the profession."

    This resonates with me, and seeing it firsthand was initially a bit of a shock. Then seeing me now and some of the things I joke about. I know I can only talk to the other nurse about it because the general population of people would just think I'm crazy. From some perspective, it is a way for us to build such a strong support system with our staff. Bonding through jokes about the trauma, death, and sadness, has made some of the people I work with become some of my closest friends. Having friends and support like that is very important in this line of work because there are some times when you do have your breaking moment and were it all seems like too much, but knowing that your staff has your back, and they all know because they have been there, has made me extremely proud and reassured in my career choice.

    To sum it all up, YES, nurses and EMS staff do make very dark and morbid jokes, but just remember that this is just one of the ways that we cope with the terrible things we see daily.

ALSO if you are into TikTok, this here is a funny video that can explain some of the stuff we deal with and just a good laugh