[Medical clowns at hospitals and their effect on hospitalized children]

Healing by the use of humor has become popular over the last few years and it is used not only in alternative medicine but also in conventional medicine in hospitals all over the world, particularly in the USA and Europe. This practice has been well implemented in pediatric wards. It is easier to make a child laugh than an adult. In the framework of healing by humor, use is made of a medical clown who is in fact a person who has undergone special training in acting and clowning, combined with medical knowledge and an understanding of patient behavior. Some medical clowns come from the world of entertainment, and are actors, clowns, and magicians. Some have a paramedical or medical background. Medical research demonstrates that medical clowns and humor have a positive effect on patients. The implementation of medical clowning has been increasing throughout the world from year to year and has, slowly but surely, started a movement to integrate it into formal frameworks in both pediatric and adult wards in hospitals. However, there is still a necessity to conduct larger, well controlled clinical trials regarding the influence of the different programs. Maybe the growing awareness in the world will fill the void that demands resources of both personnel and budgets, both of which are often missing from health budgets.