Inappropriate Jokes

While I was at work today, I was browsing one of my favorite time wasters, Reddit. Today while I was browsing the front page of the site when I came across a meme that is supposed to be for awkward situations.

In this instance, the sonogram technician is dealing with first time parents who are excited, whereas they have probably heard the same thing over and over again for years and make a joke. While it is funny, it is also inappropriate.

This is a case of needing to improve the micro level of heath communication. The technician is working directly with the patients, while it may be funny to him, the soon to be parents did not think so. While this may seem harmless, it can actually make the patient feel very uncomfortable. Imagine being a new parent and wanting to share your excitement of your newborn with everyone, but when interacting with the person who reveals the gender and any abnormalities, they don't take it seriously. That does not contribute to a healthy, professional relationship.

Also, while it may seem like a harmless joke, what if while investigating the sex of the baby, the technician notices an abnormality? Are the soon to be parents going to feel empathy from the technician, or feel comfortable working with them? Probably not.

While this may seem like a harmless joke to the technician, it really shows a lack of professionalism and empathy on the hospital. If i were in charge of training for the hospital, I would want to take a macro health communication approach and look for trends of inappropriate joking in those who have worked in that profession for a number of years. Chances are, the longer someone works in the field, the more numb they most likely are.