Comical cartoons about medicine and doctors help to alleviate patient fears, make doctors laugh, nurses think, and everyone else involved in the medical field ponder the value of comics. I have been involved in creating medical cartoons for 40+ years and have created custom cartoons for doctors and hospitals. Have you ever looked at a poster in a doctor’s office and felt somewhat comforted through the form of humor at the light-hearted graphic of say, an animated caduceus with arms and legs, smiling at the viewer?
How about a sickly looking patient in a hospital bed with his or her leg in traction in a print advertisement that promotes a certain pharmaceutical? Cartoons and humor are essential to any medical-related content such as calendars, T-shirts, or other nursing apparel or doctor’s apparel that promotes an upcoming hospital event. Think about how humor lends itself to a medical situation and how cartoons bring a smile to a reader’s or visitor’s face when they stumble upon a single panel gag cartoon that pertains to some sort of medical topic.
The wonder of humor is a tried and true method when it comes to medicine and the medical field in general. It isn’t hard to understand why a guy named Patch Adams created The Gesundheit Institute. The doctor in question was portrayed by none other than the late great actor and comedian Robin Williams who had a stellar performance in Hunter Doherty Adam’s life story. Ironically, this author shares the same birth date with Robin Williams now that I think of it: July 21st.
When you read a medical magazine and see a cartoon at the bottom, and it makes you laugh, think about some medical facts such as that burst of chuckling will generate an intake of fresh oxygen. That oxygen-infused air goes into the lungs and stimulates the muscles throughout your body. This same burst of energy and oxygen will also stimulate your brain that releases endorphins throughout your body.
Looking at a funny, humorous illustration that accompanies an article about health or visiting a doctor will catch your eye and help retain your level of attention, helping you to better interpret and understand what the article is about. Hopefully, like the cartoon that accompanies this article!
Laughing will ignite and then ease down your response to stress. A good quality to have as part of your personality is possessing a good sense of humor! In the future, no matter if you’re reading a blog like KevinMD or and medical-related content, take some time to reach out to the editors and publishers of those respective publications and blogs and let them know how much you appreciate cartoons. And if they are not publishing cartoon humor, make it a point to let them know the value of cartoons and humor and exactly how important it is in the field of medicine.
Dan Rosandich is a cartoonist and can be reached at Dan’s Cartoons.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com
