Coming Soon to an OR Near You

Every year, we have a bunch of summer program students rotate through the ER.  Most of them are great, and spend their few hours observing, asking questions, and interacting with patients.  Some, like the girl who put on a pair of gloves once she arrived and did not take them off for the remainder of her visit, were a little odd.  A special few, however, are quite memorable.

While checking lab results on a patient the other night, I turned to a student and tried to make small talk.  I asked him if he knew what field of medicine interested him.

His response: "I'm going to be a neurosurgeon.  It's the most difficult speciality."

Slightly bemused, I asked the kid if he had ever observed an operation or shadowed a neurosurgeon.

"No, but I'm extremely intelligent, so I imagine that it's the only field I will find satisfying."

I simply nodded, basking in his brilliance.  The highlight of the conversation, however, occurred when he asked me a question of his own:

"Do you know where the black people neighborhood of the Big City is?  I really want to buy some shoes."

Doesn't sound the kind of guy I want using sharp metal instruments to poke around my brain.