Is your hospital struggling with throughput? Patients in the hallway in the ER? Residents taking waaaay too long to come to admit patients? Medical attendings being difficult to reach? Or hospitalists fighting admissions?

Well, watch this hilarious Medicine vs ER Star Trek parody video by ZDoggMD. If you understand the jokes in it, you are a step ahead in understanding some of the unspoken truths of hospital throughput:

Check out Z Dogg MD’s YouTube channel and his blog.

Before Joint Commission… before the FDA… before insurance companies… there was one physician to lead us through the healthcare jungle – Tarzan, M.D. Way ahead of his time, Dr. Tarzan’s descriptions of clinical findings were in the patients’ language. His instructions were persuasive. And his patients could eat all of the fat and red meat they wanted. (And in future episodes, when he meets Jane, D.O. we find a healthcare infrastructure in complete harmony – free of egos and politics.)

Check out this funny video from ZDoggMD where he analyzes some medical news.

I love Star Wars and I love medical humor. This is a nice combo.

“I sense much stool in you” was hilarious. But while we’re on Star Wars and stool, let me share with you some disturbing news…

I was reviewing the stats on how people end up at GiggleMed.com and I noticed a search term slowly creeping up the ranks… Google “Admiral Ackbar stool” and sho’ nuff you end up at a GiggleMed blog post. What does that say about you if you Google “Admiral Ackbar stool”? (not that there’s anything wrong with that)

But I digress… go to ZDoggMD’s blog to see more medical humor.

Courtesy of NYMC Follies 2011, here is a very well done parody of the movie Inception. This time, of course, involving the bowels.

Intussusception was performed by medical students at New York Medical College. They shot the complete trailer in one day.

It’s clean (well, as clean as intussusception could possibly be). It’s funny. I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats. Check it out:

Something we all wonder about when it comes to kids’ shows… ZDoggMD looks into some of the psychopathology on Sesame Street. An astute diagnostician, I’d love to see what he’d say about Tele Tubbies. Uh Ooooh.

Anyway check out this funny video from ZDoggMD & then go check out his blog.

Check out more funny stuff from ZDoggMD’s blog.

Life is like a box a box of chocolates… sure… we all know that from Forrest Gump. But, now, Dr. Gump weighs in on what shift work is like.

Check out GiggleMed.com’s Hello Agency Nurse – a short nursing humor book about a day in the life of an agency nurse.

Without question, the most famous quote from A Few Good Men came from the dialogue between Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise in the court room. Well, here’s a similar conversation, but this time, in an ER:

ER nurse: You want answers?

Intern: I think I’m entitled to them.

ER nurse: You want answers?

Intern: I want the truth!

ER nurse: You want the truth?! You can’t handle the truth! Son, we work in an overcrowded ER that has patients in the halls. And those halls have to be cleared to make room for more sick people. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Mr. Brand New Intern? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for weekly hour requirements and you curse the Policy. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that the speed with which patients are admitted, while inconvenient for you, probably saves lives.

And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives…You don’t want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about in the resident’s lounge, you want me in this ER. You need me in this ER.

We use words like rapid response, code, DNR/DNI, triage… we use these words as the backbone to a night spent defending something. You use ‘em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to an intern who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very security I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I’d rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a syringe and draw that stat blood yourself. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to!

Intern: Did you cancel the code blue?

ER nurse: (quietly) I did the job the patient needed me to do.

Intern: Did you cancel the code blue?

ER nurse: You’re damn right I did!!

Bedside manner, physicians’ accents, and the delivery of bad news – a potential source for medical humor? Of course…

George (Adam Sandler) and Ira (Seth Rogen) make fun of a doctor’s accent during an appointment. I’ve included two parts, because the first one is a better intro and the second one is pretty funny.

I love the way this guy says, “Big Bird is not evil”.

I’ll be back.

In the midst of an emergency it is important to break things down for easy understanding. Instead of analyzing each morsel of minutiae… sometimes we just need to say it like it is. No pontificating… no lengthy sit-downs with medical journals… no procrasterbating about what to do or what it all means… Say it like it is and make a decision.

Healthcare bears many similarities to the Star Wars saga… and the proof is in the pudding (see Types 6 and 7 below).

GiggleMed.com finally caught up with Admiral Ackbar and asked him to give us his thoughts on the Bristol Stool Chart. And, well… He answered immediately… There was no constipation of thought.

Nor was there any diarrhea of words. He was succinct. He said only three.

Other Star Wars Parody Sites:

• Robot Chicken Star Wars Parody Videos
• Admiral Ackbar on Twitter
• Scrubs Star Wars Parody on YouTube
• Got more? Send me your links.

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Oh… and here’s the original “It’s a Trap!” Scene (but I’m not so sure he’s not saying, “It’s a Crap!”… Listen for yourself):

I was thinking… then, I got to wondering… What would some of my favorite shows as a kid have looked like through the eyes of a specialist? I mean, everywhere I look I feel like I’m seeing medical disorders… so, what do the specialists see?

Got some more to add to the list? Post them in the comments below…