Learning in and out of hospital

Shortly after starting medical school I was rushed to hospital to have emergency surgery for testicular torsion. Some details are cloudy, but I remember the excruciating pain, and a disorientating blur of unfamiliar rooms, sounds, smells, equipment and people in uniforms doing things to me. My clearest preoperative memory is of the anaesthetist describing in detail each layer she was crunching through with the spinal needle, and the important structures to avoid. I was a medical student, so she thought I would want to know. I didn ’ t remember the unsolicited anatomy lesson, but still remember the lovely, unnamed nurse who held me and my hand as I cried with the pain. I also learned that slow and descriptive procedures are more terrifying and painful, before the welcome numbness and sedation kicked in. I was wide awake and quite comfortable for the morning ward round, until the surgeon told me that I wouldn ’ t mind being stripped naked whilst he explained the procedure to a dozen medical students, as I would understand how important it was for their learning. I wasn ’ t really included in the discussion, but probably wouldn ’ t have been able to say much anyway. I just wanted them to cover me up and leave. Later I wondered what, if anything, those students would have learned from that single encounter.