ABSTRACT
Humour in nursing work is well documented. Nurses use humour as a coping mechanism, to alleviate stress and 'let off steam'. Discussions, however, tend to focus on what has been described as 'pure' humour which reflects the genuine pleasure nurses gain from interaction with patients and colleagues. This type of humour is transparent and benign, which this chapter argues, does not wholly reflect the way humour is used in a nursing community. Data presented demonstrates how nurses use 'applied' humour as a potent negotiative device, which often serves to alter the balance of power during hierarchically structured interactions. This chapter suggests, nurses use as an effective mode of resistance. It also investigates a variety of encounters and incidents which display the successful use of humour by nurses as a means of attacking the patriarchal and market ideologies which they see as threatening to their occupational community and their status as public service caring professionals.
