The Funny Thing About Physio.
“‘Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine’. ”
Smiling is a nice feeling.
Laughing is a better feeling.
Not being able to breath because of laughter is simply the best.
I have a colleague who’s laugh flows through the entire clinic. No matter which corner of the building you are in you hear it. It travels through the walls, it passes through the air vents, always sounding like they are right behind you. Whenever I hear their laugh, it makes me smile. I never know what made my colleague laugh. Yet each time I hear their laugh, I smile.
Photo by Marcela Rogante on Unsplash
Laughing with my colleagues is bliss. It lightens the mood of my day, recharges my energy when the clinical stressors build, it makes my to-do list momentarily vanish. Laughter provides me with cover to share my workplace insecurities and challenges. I find most of these laughs are designed as a self-administered antidote to the clinical helplessness that can be all consuming. I believe this helplessness stems from the Physio fallacy that we are all subject to. The Physio fallacy (a type of narrative fallacy) suggests that a Physio with limited knowledge of both science and the patient before them, with limited skills of reasoning, clouded by a multitude of biases and limited time can comprehensibly understand, assess and manage such a complex, multi-faceted, dynamic construct like a patient.
Faced with such a complex riddle, laughter comes to the rescue.
I have a patient who without fail makes me laugh. I hear him enter the building and I smile in anticipation. I have to be sharp to match his wit. I rarely do. It doesn’t matter, we both laugh. Usually at the futility of trying to control the world around us. We appreciate we are both doing our best despite the challenges. We both feel better. My suspicion is that I am not the only Physio who finds their patients therapeutic. I’d like to have more appointments like these.
I wonder why there is a conflict between having a laugh and being professional. There are numerous variables in defining being professional as well as what constitutes having a laugh. I recall during my undergraduate days that being on a hospital ward meant being serious. Serious meant you were professional. I thought it was a shame that the laughter shared in the staff room or at the nurse’s station wasn’t shared with patients. Patient’s who felt vulnerable, confused and anxious could surely do with a laugh.
Now, I am not talking about the type of laughter that stems from judgement. Laughing at another’s angst, error or dilemma is a selfish act that only benefits the viewer. Nor am I referring to the apathetic laugh that occasionally is heard by patients from their treating clinician wanting to move on to the next part of the session. I am referring to the laughter that originates from a unique connection between you and another person. I am referring to the laughter that is founded in empathy, when one displays their vulnerability or their predisposition for error. A laugh based on our struggles.
Perhaps this is what makes laughing unprofessional? Perhaps the conflict between laughter and professionalism lies in needing to both show vulnerability in contrast to competence. Not wanting to reveal our vulnerability may be what keeps laughter behind the closed staff-room door and away from a relationship that may benefit the most. The one between patient and clinician.
We will be discussing this and more at our next event:
The Physio Social Club Cafe: Laughter In Healthcare on Tuesday 12th May 2020. Click here for more info.