How an ER nurse is helping boost morale with the power of art and satire

In the stressful confines of the emergency department, one ER nurse has taken it upon himself to lighten up the mood with the power of art. Four years ago, charge nurse Dave Falconer noticed a few whiteboards in the staff area at the emergency department of Toronto Western Hospital that were seldom used—and saw opportunity to improve the vibe.“I started drawing just because a lot of people back in 2022 were leaving the ER and were very frustrated. Pretty much the attitude was just, ‘This job sucks, and why are we doing it?” Falconer told the Medical Post.“So I was like, maybe I can do something to help boost the morale or at least bring some light on like the funny things that we do.”Falconer began drawing satirical cartoons on the whiteboard, poking fun at the various aspects of working in the ER. His colleagues loved it and encouraged him to keep doing more.It felt like a way to get “creative when, you don't have that opportunity as much in a job that is pretty strict,” Falconer said.For instance, one illustration features Count Dracula with a nursing badge saying, “I need to draw your blood,” while painting a literal droplet of blood on an easel. In another illustration, Moses can be seeing yelling, “Let my patients GO!” surrounded by discharge papers flying everywhere.Falconer is by no means a professional artist, but has been a habitual doodler since he was young. Some of his drawings also draw on references from pop culture and anime, with characters such as Ash from 'Pokémon' and Vegeta from 'Dragon Ball Z'. For Valentine’s Day, Falconer had a drawing themed after the hit Canadian TV show 'Heated Rivalry,' poking fun at a situation involving different departments arguing over where a patient should be transferred.“It just was like one of those situations where I'm just seeing [different departments] bouncing the patient, essentially in limbo, and arguing over who's more responsible for it,” he said. “I watched Heated Rivalry, and I was like, ‘well, this is a great reference point.’”There are big problems in emergency departments across Canada, with high levels of burnout being a common thread. For Falconer, he sees these drawings as his way of doing his small part in making the ER a more fun place to work.“You do feel powerless to create change on the individual level,” he said. “Honestly, people who work in the ER are driven by providing good care and believe that they can make a difference in people's lives . . . I just hope that we also can take some joy and pride in it while we're also feeling beat down by it.”

How an ER nurse is helping boost morale with the power of art and satire

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