When I got to the medical school that Wednesday morning, the atmosphere was decidedly electric. After a relatively quiet summer with only faculty and staff moving about, suddenly, there were people everywhere, and all of them were young. Every floor was crowded with twenty-somethings, both men and women, talking excitedly, standing in line in front of the Registrar or Student Affairs office, or walking up and down the halls in a daze, looking totally lost and confused. Some were dressed in their best Sunday clothes, while others looked like they just came from the beach.
It was the first day of a three-day Orientation to Medical School. The new students had their pictures taken and completed a lot of paperwork, and they had to buy their textbooks and supplies, including dissection kits and scrubs for Gross Anatomy. When they got finished with all that, they made their way to the third floor and the Anatomy Department where they would be assigned lockers.
When I got off the elevator on the third floor, the Anatomy Department was bustling. There were lines of students going into and out of the Anatomy Office, juggling books, locker keys, Histology CDs, and backpacks. Another group were either looking for, or had found, their lockers and were trying to decide what they could temporarily stow away to unburden themselves. Still others were mingling in front of the anatomy labs, looking for their names on the lists posted on the lab door of students assigned to that lab, and introducing themselves to those who had also found that they were assigned to that particular lab. A few tried to open the lab doors, but found they were locked. The labs wouldn’t be open until Monday, when classes officially began.
The Orientation schedule for the rest of the week was taken up with all kinds of meetings, most of which took place in the large lecture hall on the second floor. Of course, the school Administration had to give their welcoming speeches and go over all the policies, rules, and regulations. Then, the Internet Technology Department instructed the students about their laptops and school accounts. One by one, each of the school organizations gave their pitch for membership, and so on. Finally, on Friday, each of the directors for the first year courses gave a little spiel about their course and introduced the faculty that would be teaching in that course. Since most of the first year courses were administered by the Anatomy Department, the Anatomy faculty was required to be there. I thought it odd that Dr. Roberts, the Head of the Anatomy Department, was the only person from the Department who was not there.
As I looked around the room at all the eager young faces, I thought about the fact that, in four short years, these people would be doctors and would be faced with making decisions that would literally change people’s lives. And those decisions would be based, to a large extent, on the knowledge that I would be imparting to them. Once again, I felt an overwhelming responsibility, not so much to those students, but to their future patients. And I felt that I had to strive to learn everything I could about the human body so I could impart that knowledge to my students.
I went into my lab on Friday afternoon to check and make sure that everything was ready for Monday. There were five closed cadaver tanks in the lab, all clean and shiny. The counters had been wiped down, and the floor tiles were sparkling. Even the stainless steel of the wash sink had been polished. The chalk board had been washed, and there were markers and an eraser on the tray beneath the board. Before I left, I took a peek into a couple of the cadaver tanks. The cadavers were enclosed in their clear plastic shrouds, just like I had seen in the morgue, and there was a large plain white cloth, folded and lying in the foot end of the tank, that would be used to cover the cadaver once dissection started. Kyle had thought of everything.
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I got to the medical school early on Monday. I think I was more nervous than the students, and besides, I have this thing about being late to anything. Unfortunately, I’m definitely not a morning person. I had already had two cups of coffee by the time I got to my office, and I was planning on running down to the cafeteria to grab another one before lecture started at eight.
There were already several students coming and going on the third floor, putting stuff in and taking things out of their lockers. I said good morning as I passed them in the hall, and most of them returned my greeting by nodding rather shyly to me. A couple of them stopped me in the hall and asked directions to the lecture hall. I couldn’t blame them for being lost. I had practiced finding my way to the lecture hall myself on Friday just so I wouldn’t get lost and stumble in late to Dr. Orrick’s lecture on Monday morning.
Things were still pretty busy in the Anatomy Office. Students going in and out with paperwork, questions, and problems, but all three of the secretaries seemed to be handling it with ease. I guess all this wasn’t new to them like it was to me. I passed Kate Gilmore in the hall, and she stopped me for a second.
“All set? Ready for the first day?” she asked.
“I think so.”
“You’ll do okay,” she said with a slight smile. “Just remember, you’re the expert because, even if you’re not sure you know something, they definitely don’t know anything.”
I made it to lecture with plenty of time to spare. There were already a lot of students in the lecture hall. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one afraid of being late. The lecture hall was a large stadium type room, with rows of desktops and chairs on each level, descending from the back down to the podium in the front. The podium was off to the left side in front of an empty white board that spanned the whole wall. A projection screen that could be lowered and raised electronically when needed was positioned above the board.
As I made my way up to the very last row at the top, where a sign read ‘Faculty Only’, I tried to picture myself standing behind that podium and giving my first lecture. Just thinking about it made my heart palpitate, and I could feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead. The other Gross Anatomy instructors began to enter the room and make their way up to the faculty row.
Kate Gilmore sat next to me and whispered, “Here we go again.”
Dr. Orrick entered the lecture hall about seven forty-five. He was dressed casually in khaki pants and a short sleeve plaid cotton shirt. That seemed to be his ‘uniform’ because, in all the time I knew him, I never saw him dressed in anything else. However, one thing was different now. He had on a tie. I guess that was his idea of looking professorial. He put down the folder he was carrying and fiddled with some controls on the podium. He fastened a portable microphone to his shirt front, checked the dimming of the lights, and lowered the screen in front of the board.
At eight o’clock sharp, he tapped on the microphone to check that it was functioning and also to get the attention of the students, many of whom were still entering the room.
“Good morning,” he said. “If you can hear me in the back, raise your hand.”
I was the only one that raised a hand. He then proceeded to introduce himself again to the students and then to introduce the instructors one by one, with each of us standing as he called out our name. I must admit that I felt a small tingling go up my spine when I heard myself referred to as ‘Dr. Sarah Whitley, Instructor for Lab Six’. I had made it – I was finally a ‘professor’ in a medical school!
He explained how the Gross Anatomy course was organized and what was expected of each student. I listened carefully. After all, I was one of the key players in making sure that the course went well and that the students achieved the stated objectives. He then dimmed the lights, projected his first Power Point slide, and began his lecture.
I hung on his every word. He was supposedly the ‘expert’, and maybe I could learn something that would help me in the lab today as well as how to give an informative and effective lecture when it was my turn. Looking back now, I guess it was my naïveté, but I really was impressed with his lecture. Maybe it was because I learned a few things that I didn’t know, or didn’t remember, or maybe it was my own insecurity when I saw how comfortable he was in his delivery. I just knew there was no way I could be that relaxed and confident when I got up there.
Apparently, my fellow instructors weren’t as impressed as I was. They whispered among themselves, and I heard a few phrases like, ‘That’s not correct’, ‘Why is he telling them that?’, ‘I wish he’d get finished so I can get out of here’. A couple of them even left early, quietly slipping out the exit door on the top level.
After the lecture, the students had fifteen minutes to get to their assigned labs. In those fifteen minutes, they had to go to their lockers, exchange books, get their lab supplies, change into their scrubs and lab coats, and, if they were fast enough, get something to drink or go to the bathroom. Needless to say, there was a lot of jostling and noise as they hurriedly left the lecture room and made their way down to the third floor anatomy labs.
Of course, the lab instructors only had fifteen minutes as well, but they didn’t seem the least bit hurried. As I was rushing out the door past Janet Drake, she said, “Hey, you don’t have to hurry. They can’t start lab without you.”
That, of course, was true, but I still practically ran down to my office, threw on my scrubs, grabbed my lab coat, and got to Anatomy Lab Six before any of the students. I hurriedly unlocked the door, entered the lab, and checked again to make sure everything was in order. Almost immediately, the students started coming in and making their way to their assigned cadaver tanks. They put their dissection manuals, tools, gloves, and textbooks down and timidly introduced themselves to their fellow tank members. Then, they just stood at their tanks, looking to the front of the lab where I was standing.
They all had that ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look in their eyes. Some were visibly scared; others tried to hide their nervousness with bravado. Still others tried making what they thought were amusing comments in a whisper to the person standing next to them. As soon as it appeared that they were all there, I started calling the roster. When everybody was accounted for, I introduced myself again and began going down each item on the list I had made of things I needed and wanted to tell them. I know I was as nervous as they were when I started, but I hoped it didn’t show. Once I got going, however, I found myself feeling more relaxed, and I was surprised that it all seemed to come naturally to me.
All in all, the first anatomy lab went well despite the students’ fears about seeing and touching the cadavers. Actually, it went better than I had anticipated. Nobody fainted or got sick to their stomach when they had to make that first cut into the cadaver’s skin with a scalpel. I had my doubts about one guy who turned as pale as the cadaver, but luckily he managed to stay upright. By the end of the lab, most of them had loosened up, and they seemed proud of themselves that they had survived every medical student’s nightmare – that first cadaver dissection lab.
I was pretty proud of myself, too.