I must be doing something right

So I just had my first day of "real" medical school. Lecture, followed by small group discussions, followed by 3 hours of administrative stuff. Followed by a strong reprimand from two deans of the medical school. Yup, that's right, my first day, and I'm already in trouble.

We had our White Coat ceremony on Sunday, a pomp and circumstance affair where the venerable heads of our school presented each member of the incoming class with a white coat, signifying our entrance to the medical profession. It was a glittering affair, with a rousing speech by an accomplished physician. It was pleasant, but honestly, I also think it's kind of a stupid tradition. We're not going to be doing anything even vaguely resembling real doctors for a few more years, and the coats we got were short coats, to signify that we're medical students (and therefore clueless). However, I made two mistakes. First, when I got my photo taken for the photo displayed at the ceremony, I made a funny face. Not weird, I just had a really big smile, and my eyes were open super-wide. I thought it was entertaining, but apparently the deans thought it reflected a lack of maturity. Second, a reporter interviewed me before the ceremony to ask what I thought of the whole affair; he noted that white coats have been linked to hospital based infections. While the jury is out , I think it's sort of a no-brainer to get rid of the damn things (so many other articles of clothing have been linked to hospital based infection, why should this one be any different), plus, I feel like a schmuck wearing one. Unfortunately, I used less than delicate language in wording it, and was stupid enough to joke around with a reporter (some of my politer comments were eventually published). When he asked me what I would think of a person wearing a white coat, I replied promptly with my customary irreverence "Douchebag." I was joking around, but should've realized any reporter would've seized an opportunity like that (I figured what I said could hardly be important). I should've also realized that the Case staff person with the reporter would relay my comments to the deans of the school, although in retrospect, that seems a little paranoid. Needless to say, the deans weren't please, and I was reprimanded for the photo and the interview. While I'm not too sorry about either one (although I regret having made the school looked bad with the douchebag comment), I apologized, deciding this was definitely a situation where you have to pick your battles, which if today was any indication, the next four years may be very much about. Oh medical school, how I love you already....

On a bright note though, our first month at school will be largely devoted to study of population and community health, including physician-patient interactions, epidemiology/biostatistics, and various other public health practices/concepts that are given short shrift in medical schools. I think it's an incredibly enlightened approach to easing medical students into the process, while equipping them with information that a lot of doctors may never learn (which I think has contributed to the bizarre dichotomy of medicine and public health; I was thrilled to learn that my school's curriculum groups them collectively under the auspices of population health).

A warm welcome

So I had my first official day of medical school todday, mostly just orientation, but the ridiculousness is already beginning.  As part of our introduction to our new medical school life, we were introduced to our first patient.  All 160 members of my class, simultaneously, to one brave soul, a college aged diabetic.  He did a great job telling us about his disease, and clearly was taking an active role in managing his lifestyle accordingly.  Of course, this wasn't enough though; my class set upon him pretty quickly oozing compassion..."What do you look for in a doctor," (he answered: someone honest, straightforward, and competent), "How did you feel when you found out about your diagnosis" (umm....pretty fucking depressed), "How were you able to afford care," and so on, so forth.  The individual questions weren't too bad, but after 40 minutes of it, I was going nuts.  I think some of us were really getting us off on feeling like doctors (I know, I'm a cynical bastard, but you trying sitting through this shit).

On a positive note though, we got to see what we might be like when we're 3rd years.  Earlier in the week, about 20 people from our class had wandered into a student lounge to get our class photos taken.  While we were waiting, we stood around, and exchanged backgrounds somewhat noisily. A med student on rotations who was studying in the same lounge was getting visibly irritated, but it's kind of difficult to shut up that many new med students meeting each other for the first time.  After 10 minutes, clearly pissed off, the 3rd year stood up, whirled around, exclaiming, "Would you all please shut the fuck up...." and stormed out.  Ah yes, medical school.....