2 – My first day in the hospital

Here are the highlights. Dr. Greta led a group of about seven doctors down a hall with six rooms, three on each side. Each room had a large window. The three rooms on the left each had six beds in them. The rooms on the right all had one bed in them because the children in these rooms were the most contagious. As we walked down the hall we stopped in front of each room, and the doctors told Dr. Greta about each patient. Dr. Greta told the doctors what to do for each patient. I probably understood less than 10% of what was said, so don’t ask me how to treat tuberculosis.
Later, Dr. Greta went on to do more doctor things, and I sat in an empty office and read about Kamikaze disease. I was so engrossed in the reading that I barely noticed when three young doctors walked in wheeling a cart filled with charts. They all sat around me and got to work. One of the young doctors, we’ll call him Nice Doctor, looked at me and asked me something in Spanish. He spoke so quickly that I had no idea what he said, so I just stared back at him blank-faced. He said it again just as quickly, and I still had no idea. Luckily, Nice Doctor started talking slower, and soon enough we were chatting about all sorts of things, for example my age. Nice Doctor decided I was ready to help him with an important task. I was to help him fill out his patient’s prescriptions. He wrote the medicine, and I wrote in the patient’s name and age, the date, and the department. Last, but not least I stamped the doctor’s seal and forged his signature. Who needs medical school?