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).