Bedlam Among the Bedpans: Humor in Nursing by Amy Y. Young; St Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier; 158 pages; 2007. paperback; $16.95

This slender paperback book is a compilation of nursing humor focusing on humor as a therapeutic agent, from North American, British, and Australian journals published over the last 20 years. In all, there are selections from 36 journals, 12 Web sites, and 6 books. This book represents new material not found in Young's earlier books on nursing humor. She notes that many good pieces could not be used because she was unable to obtain copyright permissions. Young selected only pieces written by or about nurses; pieces had to be about the broad spectrum of the nursing profession and had to be funny or humorous in some way. Young notes that she did not screen out pieces that, today, would be viewed as sexist or controversial.

The book is divided into 8 sections or common themes that all nurses encounter throughout their careers: why nurses enter the profession, how nurses see their patients; how patients and members of nurses' families view nurses' experiences and misadventures; how nurses and physicians relate to each other; the wonderful world of nursing acronyms, charting bloopers and transcription errors; the rich diversity of nursing life; and, finally, the education of nurses. Young hopes that the volume will appeal to nurses, their families, and colleagues. The book is well-designed and laid out, and, because it is written in very short segments, it can be picked up and read in any order and for short blocks of time.

I see a lot of the humor in this book as the humor of people who are frustrated with their working conditions, fighting fatigue and sleep deprivation, and the low control they have over their jobs, the low pay, extreme staffing shortages that keep everyone exhausted, and daily humiliations on the job. There are some pieces in this book on the aging nurse force and the wear and tear that the field exacts (p. 149). There are several sections in the book that focus on nurses who train residents and physicians, offer accurate diagnoses that the physician has muffed, and save reputations.

There is one nice piece in this book, written by a physician, in which he shares his sincere appreciation and gratitude for a nurse who educated him and saved him from himself as he almost made a misdiagnosis (pp. 58-59). There are some nice pieces on male nurses and their evolving role in nursing. There are several humorous reinterpretations of 'Twas the Night before Christmas and some genuinely funny pieces on patient misunderstandings about their treatments. There are also some funny pieces about what it is like to be the child of a nurse as well as humorous disasters around the house. There is a very funny piece (p. 100) on why it would be neat to have Star Trek's medical beds on one's unit. The book ends on a compassionate and hopeful note (Thirty Thoughts for Thirty Years, p. 156) with Sherry Anne Holden's thoughts on what got her into nursing and kept her there year after year.

Just a note on the editing in this book: there are some grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book (eg, pp. 21 and 57) and the book is repetitious in several places throughout due to compilations and borrowing that writers have done from the works of others in the field.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in humor in healthcare. I just hope that in later books, we will see more genuine humor and less humor based on frustration and burnout.

-Marcie Parker, PhD, CFLE

Certified Family Life Educator, President and CEO, Parker and Associates, Excelsior, Minnesota