A steamed bun is a delicacy that most Asians are familiar with, and a source of comfort food for many. However, to many Asian nurses and healthcare staff, consuming a steamed bun during a hospital shift is considered a big taboo. You may wonder why this small delicacy causes anxiety and turmoil amongst hospital staff. This taboo arises from the supposed correlation between the consumption of the steamed bun and the number of serious incidents during a hospital shift. In some hospitals, it is believed that the consumption of a steamed bun highly increases the chance of a patient’s death.
The high-stakes environment of a hospital fosters anxiety and unease, both for those receiving care and for the healthcare professionals providing it. It is common knowledge that humans have relied on superstitions to cope with fear, uncertainty, and a lack of control over outcomes, especially in fields like medicine, where success is often accompanied by high stress and unpredictable factors. Hospitals embody this blend of hope and anxiety, where outcomes are life altering and tensions are high. In this environment, superstitions can take on lives of their own, providing patients and professionals with symbolic means to cope.
These superstitions may take various forms. Some are as simple as doctors wearing a specific pair of scrubs for good luck, or nurses avoiding certain phrases like “quiet night” to avoid “jinxing” a seemingly peaceful shift. Others may involve more intricate rituals, such as placing open scissors on the emergency phone to “cut” the occurrence of calls. With some patients even believing in lucky room numbers or bringing personal items that they consider “protective” during their hospital stays.
These practices, though not founded on scientific evidence, are deeply embedded in the hospital culture and may well provide psychological benefits for those involved. Some might argue that these superstitions serve as coping mechanisms, while others view them as humorous yet oddly comforting rituals in the chaotic environment of a hospital.
To give further insights on these superstitions, I interviewed Melvin, a junior doctor in one of Singapore’s public hospital. As someone who has just begun his journey in the challenging and often unpredictable world of medicine, Melvin’s life is a mix of intense professional dedication and quirky age-old traditions. Despite his medical training, like many healthcare professionals, Melvin, has embraced certain superstitions tied to the hospital’s culture.
One of the first superstitions Melvin was introduced to during his hospital rotations was the steamed bun taboo. Among his peers, it is an unspoken rule that consuming steamed buns on a hospital call or duty is a bad omen.
Steamed buns, also written as “包”, uses the same word as “wrapping” in Chinese. One of the few interpretations would be that steamed buns symbolises death, inciting the act of wrapping and packing of dead bodies. He mentions that his peers steer clear from steamed buns to lower the occurrence of such “bun-related cases”. It’s little surprise – a study by the Academy of Medicine in Singapore found all manner of superstitious beliefs among Singaporean medics.
Melvin himself admits to steering clear of this fluffy treat during his shifts. “Why take a chance and tempt fate?” he says, explaining that the last thing any doctor wants is to associate their meal choice with the grim outcomes to their patients’ conditions.
For Melvin and his colleagues, certain words are considered taboo during shifts. Amongst the many phrases they avoid, the most dangerous would include describing a shift as “quiet” or “free”. To say, “Seems like it would be a quiet night” is akin to summoning chaos and inciting more work to do.
He recalls a night in the Emergency Department when a nurse casually remarked that she was bored because there was not much to do, and it was “quiet”. Preceding her mention of the work “quiet”, the emergency phone rang, and they were notified of an incoming patient who had serious injuries. Melvin thought to himself that it was as if the word “quiet” was the password to a vault full of work and medical emergencies, and the nurse had just “unlocked the vault”.
To avoid jinxing their luck, healthcare workers rely on euphemisms or say nothing at all when the workload is manageable. Silence, in this case, is golden. Melvin finds it amusing, but also recognises the psychological comfort it offers. “In our line of work, where certain elements are out of our control, following these little rules gives us a sense of order”, he reflects.
Perhaps the eeriest superstition that Melvin has encountered involves the use of certain hospital lifts. Many staff members refuse to take the last lift in the corner, especially towards the end of a shift. Stories abound about the use of the last lift during the shift incites more work or challenging situations. While Melvin has not experienced anything firsthand, he avoids the lift out of precaution for his seniors. However, Melvin did mention that, in situations where the shifts become busy and chaotic, his team seemingly goes against this superstition as the utility of an additional lift outweighs the supposed additional work placed onto the team. “We have to strike a balance between following such superstitious practices and operational concerns during our shifts”, he mentions.
While these practices might seem at odds with the rationality of medicine, Melvin sees them as part of hospital culture. “They’re little rituals that connect us,” he says. In the high-pressure environment of a hospital, superstitions provide not just amusement, but a shared sense of identity among staff. For Melvin, they are reminders of the humanity that underpins his work, when science meets the inexplicable, and every shift that has a new story waiting to unfold.
Psychological coping mechanisms
Hospitals are inherently high-stress environments, where healthcare workers make decisions that can make the difference between life and death. For these professionals, superstitions often function as psychological coping mechanisms, offering a sense of control and reducing anxiety. By engaging in certain rituals or behaviours – such as surgeons wearing a “lucky” cap, or nurses stacking open scissors on the emergency phone – medical staff may feel more mentally prepared and at ease before taking on high-stakes tasks. This sense of control, even if illusory, can improve focus and reduce stress, indirectly benefiting their performance and, by extension, patient care.
With superstitions often being shared within hospital teams, the collective practice of unique rituals builds a sense of camaraderie. While these practices may seem unscientific, they create a shared understanding among team members and strengthen their sense of unity. This shared connection not only fosters morale but also contributes to team resilience, an essential factor in ensuring effective collaboration and managing stress in demanding medical environments.
For patients who may feel anxious and vulnerable, superstitions can provide a source of comfort and empowerment. Believing in certain rituals, lucky numbers, or personal items allows patients to feel a sense of involvement and optimism, countering the helplessness that hospitalisation often entails. For instance, some healthcare professionals encourage patients to bring items they consider protective, such as family photos, small tokens, or jewellery, as a medium of solace and hope. While these superstitions lack empirical backing, they can bolster a patient’s mental resilience and create a more positive mindset, potentially fostering better adherence to treatment and improving their outlook.
Despite some potential practical benefits of these hospital superstitions, there are also reasons to be cautious. A primary is their lack of scientific validity. Hospitals are dedicated to evidence-based practices, where clinical decisions are informed by empirical data and rigorous testing. By nature, superstitions defy this logic. They rely on chance, coincidence, confirmation bias, or tradition, rather than reproducible scientific findings.
The notion that avoiding certain phrases or wearing particular items could influence patient outcomes is unsubstantiated and can even contradict the principles of modern medicine. Relying on these beliefs can potentially distract healthcare professionals from focusing solely on evidence-based practices that have been tested and proven effective.
Superstitions can also foster cognitive biases, leading healthcare professionals to erroneously link outcomes to unrelated actions. For instance, if a surgeon attributes a successful operation to a specific routine rather than their clinical skills or the patient’s health condition, this can lead to skewed perceptions of causation. Over time, reliance on these superstitions may reduce critical thinking, causing practitioners to overlook objective factors. This undermines the rigorous, systematic analysis needed in medicine and can lead to misplaced confidence in the power of rituals over proven medical protocols, which could inadvertently compromise patient care.
For patients, a sense of trust and confidence in their healthcare providers is essential. When patients observe medical professionals engaging in seemingly irrational behaviours or relying on “lucky” items, it may raise doubts about their objectivity and professionalism. The presence of superstitions in such a scientific environment could erode patients’ trust in the reliability and integrity of healthcare providers.
This lack of confidence may even contribute to heightened anxiety or decreased adherence to medical advice provided by healthcare professionals, as patients might start to question whether their care is influenced by unscientific beliefs. As a result, superstitions may, indirectly, impact both patient satisfaction and the reputation of the healthcare institutions.
The intersection of superstition and science presents a paradox: can beliefs that defy scientific reasoning actually enhance patient care by leveraging the psychological benefits they bring?
This question highlights a potential path forward. While superstitions themselves may lack empirical merit, acknowledging their psychological impacts could lead healthcare providers to find balanced approaches that respect both evidence-based practices and the value of individual beliefs.
Superstitions within hospitals represent a fascinating blend of human psychology and the pursuit of healing. Despite the objective of evidence-based treatments, superstitions continue to influence the daily routines of healthcare professionals and the experiences of patients. Superstitions might help provide a means of managing anxiety, fostering team spirit, and offering comfort to those in vulnerable situations, but these beliefs are not without drawbacks. They lack scientific validity, have the potential to create biases, and may even compromise the professional image of healthcare providers.
However, rather than dismissing superstitions outrightly, healthcare providers may benefit from acknowledging their roles as psychological tools, facilitating comfort in an environment often marked by high stress and uncertainty. The challenge lies in balancing respect for individual beliefs with a commitment to evidence-based practice.
Could there be merit in fostering these traditions, or would their continued presence ultimately erode the foundations of empirical science? This paradox invites us to consider the possibility that superstitions, though unscientific, might just be an essential part of the human experience, even within the most scientific environments.
