I met my new team today. Let this be my first impressions of them.

The intern paged me this morning and we agreed to meet at 10 a.m.

The intern is a tall Indian male. He goes by Vas I think, I am so bad with names, although I’m not the only one. Whenever I’m greeted by an attending they ALWAYS talk to my nametag on my front coat pocket. It gets kind of annoying talking to someone who says hi to your chest. I’m guessing this is the way women feel when guys talk to them while staring at their breasts.

My first impression of Vas was good. Maybe it was his sharply cut goatee and moustache but he looked serious and reliable. He’s a medicine person too, not someone who’s going into ER, radiology, or ophthalmology (that has got to be the most difficult word to spell in the Dictionary) next year. So I was secretly relieved to hear that. It’s hard to explain but if you’re in the Marines you’d rather work with someone in the Marines as opposed to someone in the Army or the Navy or whatever. Many times it doesn’t make a difference. But sometimes you do see a difference in efficiency and enthusiasm, and hence morale.

Shortly thereafter the two medical students arrived on the floor. A man and a woman. They both look all shiny, enthusiastic and new. But don’t all medstudents look that way on the first day? The male is my sub-intern or fourth-year medstudent. He and I will be working on the same patients together, as I’ll be training him how to be an independent intern. His name is H.L. …. That’s it, just the initials. (People who go by initials always make me feel like they’re hiding something - like their name!) He’s also interviewing for medicine residencies. I actually thought he might be surgically-inclined the way he boldly interrupted the attending in a few discussions. (Not that a surgical resident would EVER interrupt a surgical attending. But a surgical resident WOULD interrupt a medicine attending, just out of sheer disdain for anyone non-surgical.) He has wavy blondish hair like a younger Matthew McConaughey (correction … that is the most difficult word to spell). I like him though. He seems genuinely interested in the month ahead. I surreptitiously borrow some of that enthusiasm from him.

The third-year medstudent, Wendy, is an attractive blonde woman. Like a medstudent new to the wards she is Fiercely Friendly and Enthusiastic. After two years in the libraries the third-year student is raring to go and make their big splash on the wards and make a good impression. Her hair is short with perfectly curved tendrils like bright yellow blades. Her glasses are narrow with thick black frames. She also has a wide open smile and big teeth … big teeth are pretty. I didn’t work with her today so I can’t say anything else.

We met the attending. He’s a shorter man who’s difficult to describe. He’s a little goofy and jokes a bit and of course we residents and students have to laugh every time, but he is a nice guy. My only first day qualm is that he likes to play the sarcastic “Devil’s Advocate” with the team’s medical decisions. But I guess that’s his job. I’ll call him Dr. Kermit for reasons unmentioned. I like him too.

I wonder what my intern’s and medstudents’ impressions were of me today. While we went over the patient list with the attending I could peripherally see them looking at me from around the table. Maybe they were looking at my bright red tie and blue shirt with white collar and thinking I looked like some presidential candidate on acid. Or maybe they were looking at my slicked back hair and day-and-a-half growth of stubble and wondering if I thought the Miami Vice look was still en vogue.

Who knows?

Maybe they were looking out the window behind me wishing they were outside.