Working in the medical profession can be emotionally taxing and physically stressful. Frequently, nurses see and experience things that most people do not have to deal with in everyday life. For this reason, they develop a unique kind of humor. This nursing humor is often understood and appreciated only by members of this or another health-related profession.

Many jokes are dedicated to interactions between physicians and nurses, or between nurses and patients. While these jokes usually do not contain offensive language, they may present the nurse as less than sympathetic or compassionate. Nurses are taught to be professional and kind when interacting with patients and families, but they do possess a human side as well, and sometimes this aspect of their personalities requires expression. Sharing these jokes often allows them to express negative emotions to one another with humor, and to cope with difficult patients or situations more effectively.

One way that medical humor manifests itself is in the defining of various medical related terms in new or unique ways. One example of this can be seen in the nurse jokes that are made about the radiological test substance of barium. Often, this substance as well as the job it entails is referred to as 'undertaker'. It is important to remember to not be too overt with medical humor, however, as it may be easy to offend someone with one of these jokes.

Nursing humor has found itself a home on many nursing websites in forums dedicated to funny occurrences. These forums provide a place to share stories that are too funny to keep to oneself. Forums are not the only place where these jokes are shared, as many are also shared through e-mails or hand-outs among nurses. Many sites dedicate themselves completely to nursing and general medical humor, rather than providing just a forum.

Sometimes, nursing humor is dedicated to the discussion of recent policy issues. Sometimes these issues are directly relevant to nursing administration concerns at their institution, while others deal with topics from government-sponsored healthcare to insurance problems. Because many of these latter topics are much easier to discuss with non-medical persons, these are usually the jokes that nurses share more easily with friends and family members.

If you have a friend or family member that is a nurse you can probably remember hearing many tales of nursing humor. Most nurses resort to this dry humor to cope with the life and death issues they face daily. Check out a few of the websites that offer this type of humor. Read these bits as if you are nurse and you will have a better understanding of the humor