In this module, I have been reminded that a balanced bit of levity can move the class along pleasantly. Having (now 53 years ) experience in the Respiratory Care profession allows me to think of amusing events in patient care (not at a patient's expense) that can set a new student up to remember foolish actions to avoid, or can teach a student how to instruct a patient in a procedure.
The mechanism of cough has four components to it, inspiration, glottic closure, compression, and expulsion. A tracheostomized patient cannot have glottic closure nor compression. Having grown up on a ranch in Texas, I watched cows cough. They did not have what we humans have, the glottic closure and compression. I called it "cow coughing." A young patient humorously challenged me with a hastily written note, "Are you calling me a cow?!?!?!?"
My students have remembered the story and avoided embarrassment in their clinical practice.
