I suspect that most of us tend to think of hospital employees, doctors, nurses, others, as stoic, passionless people, and sometimes even a little morose.
Perhaps they need to be that way, since the work they do is so serious, often literally a matter of life and death, and a serious, sober demeanor is called for.
But all those hospital employees, those doctors, nurses, and others, are people too, and sometimes that serious side just has to be balanced out a little bit with an unexpected prank or two on fellow staffers.
It does make sense, though, as sometimes the sheer, heavy stress of working in a hospital environment, again, a life-and-death kind of stress, would arguably justify, it might seem, a little prankster impishness now and then, and the feeling of nervous relief it can bring to all involved, once the prank is revealed.
This site reports some of what it claims are pranks that have been played by hospital staffers on each other, no doubt to the amusement of some and to the chagrin of others:
https://aimseducation.edu/blog/medical-pranks-and-jokes(FWIW, I found some of the pranks described on the site excessive and even creepy - especlally the one in the morgue - but perhaps some would argue that the more brazen the prank, the more successful it is. And perhaps it offers an insight into what doctors and other medical staff themselves find humorous, especially in the face of all that stress).
Also, if you search
hospital pranks site:www.youtube.com
that pulls up a good bunch of short videos of hospital pranks available online for one's viewing pleasure.
A sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw6vlkzh1p0(WARNING: if ever there was a prank that was dark humor, this is it).
(BTW, one assumes that this is a real prank taking place in a real hospital, but even if it's just actors acting, it's probably still representative of what can go on in a real hospital from time to time. Same for other "hospital pranks" on Youtube).
Of course discretion is always advised when pranking within a hospital environment (or anywhere else for that matter), as there is certainly the possibility that the prankee may take a dim view of the actions of the pranker, possibly even to the point of pursuing legal remedies if sufficiently annoyed. There are also sites on the web reporting that happening.
But if approached sensibly, occasional hospital pranking may indeed serve a stress-reducing purpose, at least for some.
So the next time you face a hospital employee who is utterly morose in temperament, just imagine him or her laughing hysterically after successfully pranking a fellow staffer!
And maybe the Hippocratic Oath should be updated to read
"First do no harm, but you can prank!