Catching up with Karyn

"The minute this LOL walked into our ER, I knew she was going to be trouble. She arrived with 6 relatives, each of whom was being continually, loudly reminded of their responsibilities. One had to hold the purse, another was to call everyone - she listed them by name - and let them know the LOL was in the ICU and about to die any moment, another one had to run out to the car to make sure the lights were out, the fourth was supposed to make the doctor see her at the triage desk because she didn't have the strength to go any further, the fifth had to take the purse because the first one wasn't holding it right, and the sixth was responsible for everything else."

"I don't think Queen Elizabeth has this many attendants. I knew right then we had a candidate for our Hall of Fame."

Reframing: Seeing the World Through the Lens of Humor

Some patients are more difficult than others. That's no secret - just ask any nurse! Humor provides a way to keep calm, cool and collected while managing...

"How hot is it? Well, I just saw two trees fighting over a dog!"

Temperatures throughout the Western part of the United States are exceptionally high right now. These near-record temperatures are enough to ground small aircraft! As a nurse, I can't stress strongly enough how important it is to take special care of yourself and your loved ones - especially the elderly and small children - during this heat wave. Make sure that everyone takes in plenty of liquids, avoids exerting themselves, and stays as cool as possible. If you don't have air conditioning or your A/C isn't working properly, take advantage of community cooling stations.

It's also important to keep your spirits up during this heat wave. Being exposed to excessive temperatures puts stress on your body's systems. Luckily, laughter is an all-natural, drug-free way to reduce the impact of that stress. When we laugh, we lower our blood pressure, improve blood sugar control, and improve circulation.

"It's so hot I just saw a...

We spend a lot of time in healthcare focused on patient outcomes, and that's how it should be. After all, we all got into this gig to help people cope with illness, injury, or incredibly bad luck. If we're not helping our patients out, we're doing it wrong.

But sometimes the focus on patient outcomes overshadows other important stories. Today I want to give a shout out to Outpatient Surgery, who shared a story detailing the fact that healthcare is anything but healthy for the people who work in it. If you're a physician, a nurse, a therapist, an aide, or otherwise involved in the front line delivery of healthcare, your chances of being injured or becoming ill on the job are more than 4 times higher than if you worked in manufacturing.

Isn't that an incredible statistic? I couldn't believe it when I first heard it. Then I remembered all of the slips, trips, falls, scrapes and yes, assaults from patients and disgruntled visitors, that I experienced or witnessed during my nursing...

Truth is, I don't watch TV much. Mostly it's bad for your health. And honestly most of us don't watch TV as much as we let it drone on in the background until something manages to cut through the clatter.

My stress level begins to climb after just a few minutes of listening to Natalie Morales telling me about the war raging in (name-your-location-here), or Norah O'Donnell telling me about the effects of global warming, or Jean Chatsky telling me I've invested poorly and am going to have to let my favorite child pick out my nursing home. I'll admit it, my chest feels a little tighter, my anxiety is a little higher, and I'm wondering if a glass of Merlot for breakfast would count as a fruit on my Weight Watcher points.

But yesterday something different cut through the clatter. I'm thinking, "Did I hear that right?!"  I stopped what I was doing and looked up. The commercial for Kmart’s gas savings was quick—and by the time I got to where I could see the TV, the ad was...

Some of my favorite people in the world are oncology nurses. If you ever want to meet a group of smart, skilled, and passionate health care providers, look to the oncology nurses. They’re there day in and day out on the front lines, providing exceptional care and essential emotional support, to people with cancer. And if you ever want to meet a group of nurses who know the value of a well-timed laugh – oncology nurses can help you with that as well.

Faced with the stark and bleak side of health care, oncology nurses have a finely tuned appreciation for the silly and bizarre. To this day, I remember the reaction of the oncology nurse who was treating my college-aged son David when he introduced one of his best buds as Tonto.

“If he’s Tonto,” the nurse asked Adam, “then who are you?”

With a great big grin, my son rubbed his balding head and announced, “I’m his Chemo-sabi!”

Sometimes those laughs come exactly when you need...

Happy Nurses Week!

I hope you've been having the best Nurses' Week ever. It's been great to see a really healthy amount of humor as part of Nurses Week celebrations this year. Some of the best stuff I've seen has been on SomeeCards - go check it out, and if you see one that would make your favorite nurse laugh right out loud, send it to them. It's free, and the gift of humor is one that will make your friend happier and healthier.

It's hard to pick a favorite, but I have to admit to liking, "Happy Nurses Week to all the nurses with friends too cheap to go to the doctor!" Raise your hand if you know more about your closest friend's gastrointestinal system than you ever hoped to. And people are really willing to stretch the definition of friend when they need medical advice...if they went to the same high school you did, t(*cough*) years ago and haven't seen each other since, that's a close enough connection to solicit your opinion of their small bowel resection!

As nurses, using...

Happy Nurses Week!

If you've ever cleared out an entire Pizza Hut just by talking shop with your co-workers, this week is for you!

If you've ever complimented a stranger on their lovely veins (or merely ogled from afar!) this week is for you!

If you've ever proven your ability C-diff at a distance, using only your nose, this week is for you!

If you've ever defined 'medication error' as "I should have taken the Ativan myself!" this week is for you!

If you've ever had your scrubs seized by the CDC as the most terrifying thing they've ever seen, this week is for you!

Nurses are amazing people, and this is the week we celebrate our profession. Whether you're a nurse in the hospital setting, health clinic, school, nursing home or long term care setting, corrections facility, military, or beyond, the fact is that you're the front lines of health care in this country. You are the number one source of caring, compassionate patient care. The work you do makes a real difference in the lives...

Nurses who laugh are happier people.

Nurses who laugh are healthier people.

Nurses who laugh are better nurses.

But what's so funny about nursing?

This year, Nurse's Week is May 6-12.  Just in the nick of time, Karyn Buxman has released the latest volume in the side-splitting What's So Funny book series: What's So Funny About... Nursing?: A Creative Approach to Celebrating Your Profession .

Here's an excerpt, discussing how humor can make you healthier:

When was the last time you heard that watching TV could actually make you healthier?! Another way you
can really give your heart a boost is by playing the ICU Game: Any time you see an error on a medical TV show (Nurse Jackie and Grey’s Anatomy are GREAT for this!) that would result in the patient spending the rest of his short, short life in the ICU, get up and do 25 jumping jacks. You could have the heart of an Olympian in less than one season!

Fun, funny, and packed with practical information to bring the healing power...

That's where you'll find me -Karyn Buxman, RN, neurohumorist, and author of What's So Funny About... Heart Disease?: A Creative Approach to Coping with Your Condition- sharing the latest research on humor and healing for the person who has heart disease.

Did you know that laughing for half an hour a day can reduce your bad cholesterol by up to 66%? When you have heart disease, cholesterol control is job number one. Enjoying humor doesn't replace conventional treatment or prescription medications - but it's a fun, free and effective way to make successfully managing your heart disease easier.

Listen to the January Jones interview here! If you like what you hear, don't forget to tell your friends about it on Facebook and Twitter. Sharing laughter is one way we can improve everybody's heart health!

We'd been called in for an emergency bowel obstruction. Our scrub nurse had some bad gas - don't ever trust the cafeteria's tacos! In the  middle of the procedure, the surgeon starts freaking out. "I nicked the bowel! Don't you smell that?"  He ran the bowel over and over before he was finally satisfied that it was intact, and he closed. Afterward, when I talked to the scrub nurse about it, she said, "What was I going to do - tell him I farted?!"

OR Nurses: this bookis for you! I count the years I spent as an OR nurse as some of the finest (and funniest!) of my career. Talk about the tight bond between nurses! I learned true caring, compassion, and grace-under-pressure from my colleagues behind those double doors.

There were also lots of laughs - and thank goodness for that. Laughter provides the emotional resiliency we need to operate at the top of our game in the high-stress, high-pressure OR environment. Nurses who laugh regularly enjoy considerable physical and mental...