Medicine: Overwhelmed

I think the dictionary should be revised. Next to "overwhelming," the definition should be changed to read, "a third year med student's first day in the hospital."

I can't say I've been in very many hospitals, so I don't have any basis for comparison... but I'm pretty sure they imported the Labyrinth straight from Greece, put some hospital beds in it, and called it Hospital. I'm convinced that any one of these days, I'm going to make a wrong turn going from South Building to 4-West and run into the Minotaur himself. My greatest daily embarassment (actually, come to think of it, a ritual) is getting out of the elevators in the morning, walking purposefully forwards, realizing I'm going in the wrong direction, and making an abrupt 180. I think the fact that I'm wearing a white coat (and thus look like I actually know what I'm doing) makes it only more comical. I hope it will get better.

But the overwhelmingness doesn't stop there. Never mind that there are 30 residents per year, 4 teams, one cardiology teaching service, an utterly confusing calendar involving A, B, C, and D, call on every 4th day, P which stands for goodness only knows what on the calendar, different levels of hierarchy between interns, residents, and attendings, and only 1 day off per week. Never mind the 7 am sign-outs (and what the hell is a sign out?), pickups (huh?) and "caps" on admissions. And DEFINITELY, never mind that I look like an idiot as soon as I open my mouth and ask, very innocently, "what the hell is a sign out?"