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Medicine for Laughter Anyone?


Has anyone thought of medicine in any other way aside from being a gloomy and very severe profession? Because it deals with life and death situations on a daily basis, every minute of the day. But still in the midst of all the chaos, there can be unexpected (and unsolicited) moments that just make you want to break out in laughter. These are some of the narratives below.

A pharmacist had just finished counselling and showing the patient how to administer certain important medications after the patient’s transplant, as well as advising the patient on some precautions while taking these medicines. Lastly, the pharmacist advised the patient to apply sun block as over exposure to the sun will cause unwanted side effects from the medication. Before the pharmacist leaves the room, the patient said he had a question:
Patient: Miss, does this mean I need to apply the sun block on the box or the tablet of the medication?
Pharmacist (flabbergasted but still holding a straight face): No sir, the sun block was meant to be applied to your skin to protect your skin from the sun
Lesson 1: Be explicitly clear on your instructions to patients if possible with the help of visual aids when giving out advice. And always maintain a professional demeanour (like your life depends on it) because really these are patients’ sincere questions.

During a pass over of a patient from one doctor to another this conversation took place:
Doctor A: Hi Doctor B, how was the on-call last night? Heard you had a new admission
Doctor B: Yes, we did have a new admission, an elderly lady – an aunty
Doctor A: What is wrong with the elderly lady?
Doctor B (sheepishly): The aunty is err… not feeling very well
Doctor A (sarcastically): Thanks Doctor B, that’s a real great diagnosis
Lesson 2: Do not rely on on-call team to make a full diagnosis because of time constrains (or they maybe just pulling your leg).

A pharmacist receives a call from an on-call doctor enquiring for an antidote for a rather peculiar case:
Doctor C: Hi can I know if there is any antidote for this X vaginal tablet that the patient just ingested orally?
Pharmacist: How did the patient ingest it orally? The vaginal tablet is quite large in size, certainly larger than the usual oral tablets. Also it states not for oral use.
Doctor C (face palm): The patient painstakingly cut the tablet into several smaller pieces and ingested it. She had no idea she had to read the warning label
Pharmacist: This is a rather extraordinary case, since the medication is really meant to be inserted through the vaginal. I would need to check with the National Poison Centre on this issue. Is the patient having any symptoms?
Doctor C: Thankfully patient looks quite comfortable at the moment
Lesson 3: Always expect and accept that unusual out-of-this world cases will most likely happen during your on-call after office hours.

During a ward round with a consultant, a rather (poetic) junior specialist and a whole team of medical officers this conversation took place:
Consultant: How is the patient feeling today after we started yesterday’s treatment?
Junior specialist: After yesterday’s treatment, it seems his spirits were lifted
Consultant: His spirits were lifted? That’s a nice way to put it. If I were to ask any other member of this team they would probably have just answered “patient is fine”
Lesson 4: Poetic language should probably be left for use after the ward rounds

These are just some narratives of moments that had made us smile, and made us look back and think it really wasn’t such a bad day after all. Serving in a public government-funded hospital for 15 years, these little gems are much needed pick-me-ups that help us get through the day. And remember this, it is always important to find some humour in every gloomy situation. 
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