What to bring to your first day of class?

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Giovanotto

Giovanotto

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As the title says, what should I buy/prepare for years 1 & 2 of a medical school education? WesternU students who comment on here please identify yourselves as students from there as that information will be especially pertinent to me since I may end up going there.

I've been out of school for a while so I appreciate the help!
 
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Giovanotto said:
As the title says, what should I buy/prepare for years 1 & 2 of a medical school education. WesternU students who comment on here please identify yourselves as students from there as that information will be especially pertinent to me since I may end up going there.

I've been out of school for a while so I appreciate the help!
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This is the allopathic forum, bruh, better bet with the osteopathic one if you want info on Western U

First day of class I plan on bringing my big fat butt, a pen, and laptop
 
Giovanotto said:
Do I start seeing patients right away?
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Life tip: That was a joke. Don't wear your white coat on the first day, unless you recieve specific instructions or have a particular activity planned that requires it. Unless, you want to be "that guy."
Your classmates will never let you live it down.

Edit: Oh yeah, and also acting way cooler than you actually are is highly recommended. Worked out for people well. My first week I genuinely believed my class was ridiculously cool. The covers came off later, but if you don't pretend you are automatically the weird one. And orientation week is a race to discover the weird one. No one wants to be the weird one.
 
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You're stethoscope to make sure you still have a pulse after a full day of orientation lectures.
 
Dave89 said:
Short-sleeved plaid shirt and a bowtie.
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Make sure you also have lime green pants rolled up to your mid calf with no socks and top-siders on.
Somehow medical students have decided that just about anything can slide as professional dress as long as you have some sort of a tie on and your white coat.
I have literally seen this outfit on wards.
 
atomi said:
Make sure you also have lime green pants rolled up to your mid calf with no socks and top-siders on.
Somehow medical students have decided that just about anything can slide as professional dress as long as you have some sort of a tie on and your white coat.
I have literally seen this outfit on wards.
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We had to wear professional dress on IM wards at one hospital I rotated at and I'll be honest, I usually wore tennis and chinos most of the time. I wasn't about to stand for 4 hours doing walking rounds in wingtips and no way were Danskos going to be allowed on my feet those things are hideous. I did wear a very nice buttonup though. Never wore a tie, neither did most of the attendings.
 
gregoryhouse said:
You're stethoscope to make sure you still have a pulse after a full day of orientation lectures.
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A stethoscope to check pulses?

I see that Dr. House's physical exam skills are getting rusty. Maybe he should see his patients more.

😉
 
gregoryhouse said:
We had to wear professional dress on IM wards at one hospital I rotated at and I'll be honest, I usually wore tennis and chinos most of the time. I wasn't about to stand for 4 hours doing walking rounds in wingtips and no way were Danskos going to be allowed on my feet those things are hideous. I did wear a very nice buttonup though. Never wore a tie, neither did most of the attendings.
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You only had to dress professionally at ONE of your IM rotations, and you did this by wearing dockers, tennis shoes, and no tie? Ummmm, what did you wear at your other rotations? Shredded camo cargo shorts and a black tank top?
We dress professionally for our patients, not for ourselves.
 
atomi said:
You only had to dress professionally at ONE of your IM rotations, and you did this by wearing dockers, tennis shoes, and no tie? Ummmm, what did you wear at your other rotations? Shredded camo cargo shorts and a black tank top?
We dress professionally for our patients, not for ourselves.
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Cargo shorts and a tank top sounds about right for Psych.

But seriously... I can't stand wearing ties with my white coat. I do one or the other; not both. Ties make me hot and uncomfortable, and I can't think of a single other job that requires one to wear a tie while doing things similar to reaching under gowns, palpating, percussing, auscultating, probing, drawing blood, etc. all day. Add to that the fact that white coats are made of totally non-breathable polyester, and... no. Not doing both.
 
gregoryhouse said:
We had to wear professional dress on IM wards at one hospital I rotated at and I'll be honest, I usually wore tennis and chinos most of the time. I wasn't about to stand for 4 hours doing walking rounds in wingtips and no way were Danskos going to be allowed on my feet those things are hideous. I did wear a very nice buttonup though. Never wore a tie, neither did most of the attendings.
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Dave89 said:
Cargo shorts and a tank top sounds about right for Psych.

But seriously... I can't stand wearing ties with my white coat. I do one or the other; not both. Ties make me hot and uncomfortable, and I can't think of a single other job that requires one to wear a tie while doing things similar to reaching under gowns, palpating, percussing, auscultating, probing, drawing blood, etc. all day. Add to that the fact that white coats are made of totally non-breathable polyester, and... no. Not doing both.
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Gotta grow up sometime boys.
 
gregoryhouse said:
We had to wear professional dress on IM wards at one hospital I rotated at and I'll be honest, I usually wore tennis and chinos most of the time. I wasn't about to stand for 4 hours doing walking rounds in wingtips and no way were Danskos going to be allowed on my feet those things are hideous. I did wear a very nice buttonup though. Never wore a tie, neither did most of the attendings.
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Never?

http://www.posh24.com/photo/1166147/hugh_laurie_dr_house_on_house
 
Can't believe people haven't mentioned the pocket protector and the cell phone holster
pda-belt-2.jpg
 
atomi said:
You only had to dress professionally at ONE of your IM rotations, and you did this by wearing dockers, tennis shoes, and no tie? Ummmm, what did you wear at your other rotations? Shredded camo cargo shorts and a black tank top?
We dress professionally for our patients, not for ourselves.
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We would wear scrubs on most of our wards rotations. I would dress appropriate for clinic but clinic you are not doing walking rounds where you are constantly climbing up and down 5 or 6 flights of stairs multiple times a day to see your patients. Most docs didnt wear ties on the wards that I've seen, its basically a fomite spreading MRSA around the floors. And are you really going to tell me Danskos or crocs which is what a lot of the staff and docs wear on the floors is better than sneakers...

I'm there to provide appropriate care to these patients not impress them with my style of dress. If you think dressing up like the picture below is inappropriate,
images
, then you care a little bit too much about what other people wear definitely more so than the patients.

This isn't the 1950s anymore. I know medicine is conservative but most students and doctors these days are not as traditional as the past. I have not had one patient ever look at me or treat me differently based on my clothes.
 
I agree that Danskos/clogs with dress pants are lame, but I would've sent you home (or maybe just called you out in front of everyone) if you wore actual tennis shoes with anything other than scrubs. There are plenty of brands making dress shoes for guys that are comfortable to stand/walk in. Clarks come to mind.
 
22031 Alum said:
I agree that Danskos/clogs with dress pants are lame, but I would've sent you home (or maybe just called you out in front of everyone) if you wore actual tennis shoes with anything other than scrubs. There are plenty of brands making dress shoes for guys that are comfortable to stand/walk in. Clarks come to mind.
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I'll admit sneakers are definitely pushing it. I have yet to find a comfortable dress shoe yet though. I bought some Cole Haan wingtips with nike sole material inside of them and they were comfortable for like 2 weeks. Its hard to give up the comfort of a really nice sneaker. I was glad I did the rest of my rotations at an army hospital where scrubs were required for everything.
 
On My first day of class I brought only an expanding file full of ham sandwiches. The people sitting next to me were all like "way to be prepared to organize all the handouts we got." If only they knew that I'm just a fatty lol


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
22031 Alum said:
I agree that Danskos/clogs with dress pants are lame, but I would've sent you home (or maybe just called you out in front of everyone) if you wore actual tennis shoes with anything other than scrubs. There are plenty of brands making dress shoes for guys that are comfortable to stand/walk in. Clarks come to mind.
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Out of curiosity, what do you think would be appropriate for girls to wear? I'm not sure what to look for when getting shoes that are appropriate and comfortable (for example, heels are definitely no-go for standing around for hours). I wore black ballet-looking flats to research once, and when we needed to make a stop in the hospital, my PI told me it was inappropriate for hospital attire (so I guess flats are a no-go either?).
 
musicalfeet said:
Out of curiosity, what do you think would be appropriate for girls to wear? I'm not sure what to look for when getting shoes that are appropriate and comfortable (for example, heels are definitely no-go for standing around for hours). I wore black ballet-looking flats to research once, and when we needed to make a stop in the hospital, my PI told me it was inappropriate for hospital attire (so I guess flats are a no-go either?).
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... Flats inappropriate for the hospital? :uhno:

Folks have commented on the danskos as being not good with dress pants. I think they work fine for women and at the hospital I'm at, most of the female staff wear them. After a week on L&D, I broke down and purchased a pair. I wish I had had them the whole time. They make standing on rounds or in the OR much more tolerable.

Regardless, you need to worry about this too much in MS1 and M2 unless your school is insane and requires professional clothes to lecture.
 
xffan624 said:
... Flats inappropriate for the hospital? :uhno:

Folks have commented on the danskos as being not good with dress pants. I think they work fine for women and at the hospital I'm at, most of the female staff wear them. After a week on L&D, I broke down and purchased a pair. I wish I had had them the whole time. They make standing on rounds or in the OR much more tolerable.

Regardless, you need to worry about this too much in MS1 and M2 unless your school is insane and requires professional clothes to lecture.
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Yeah one of the nurses looked at my foot when I was going to the hospital to pick up blood samples and said "those shoes aren't appropriate because the top of your foot is uncovered, even if your toes are covered". I think those flats are fine for non-hospital class wear though...
 
musicalfeet said:
Yeah one of the nurses looked at my foot when I was going to the hospital to pick up blood samples and said "those shoes aren't appropriate because the top of your foot is uncovered, even if your toes are covered". I think those flats are fine for non-hospital class wear though...
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Probably due to what you were doing (ie. carrying blood samples). I've worn equivalent shoes plenty of times in the hospital in various roles and not gotten hassled. If you wear danskos or equivalent, there's plenty of foot coverage so no one will say anything and they are very comfortable.
 
gregoryhouse said:
I'll admit sneakers are definitely pushing it. I have yet to find a comfortable dress shoe yet though. I bought some Cole Haan wingtips with nike sole material inside of them and they were comfortable for like 2 weeks. Its hard to give up the comfort of a really nice sneaker. I was glad I did the rest of my rotations at an army hospital where scrubs were required for everything.
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Johnston and Murphy shoes are pretty comfy, and they look nice.

I've spent around 80% of M3 with a tie on, it's not that bad once you get used to it. There are definitely attendings who'd have sent a student home for showing up in tennis shoes and without a tie, and with good reason IMO.
 
mcloaf said:
Johnston and Murphy shoes are pretty comfy, and they look nice.

I've spent around 80% of M3 with a tie on, it's not that bad once you get used to it. There are definitely attendings who'd have sent a student home for showing up in tennis shoes and without a tie, and with good reason IMO.
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They've got a nice collection. I might have to upgrade my shoe apparel soon.

I don't mind wearing a tie. Like I said though a lot of the attendings here didn't wear ties in the hospital so I just took advantage of it. Not wearing a tie saves a few minutes and when waking up at 5 am, every minute counts. The tennis though I really don't have an excuse for lol, but I was never told anything so I just kept going with it. My school is pretty laid back about these things but if I were to go do an away rotation or Sub-I then I'd obviously dress the part. I do think its silly though that a hospital service where you are expected to run around the hospital doing consults, examining patients, doing procedures, and there is always the chance of getting blood or other fluids on you requires wearing professional dress. For clinic it makes sense, I just don't know why scrubs aren't the expected attire for wards
 
Make sure to keep an open mind! You're going to be starting on one of the most enlightening experiences in your life so far (probably). For my school we had to wear white coats because they wanted us to look professional since they had us take class photos. You might want to see what's required for your first day/week.
 
22031 Alum said:
I agree that Danskos/clogs with dress pants are lame, but I would've sent you home (or maybe just called you out in front of everyone) if you wore actual tennis shoes with anything other than scrubs. There are plenty of brands making dress shoes for guys that are comfortable to stand/walk in. Clarks come to mind.
Click to expand...
GeoX's are pretty comfortable and dressy too, and are built to last.

As for what else to bring... love of learning? 😛
 
Wear a Gucci suit, under a long white coat and a stethoscope. Walk to the front of the class, place your hello kitty backpack and gummy bears on the floor, and watch House on your iPad.
 
DRsmartypants said:
Don't just wear the short white coat, wear a white coat down to your ankles so you can show your attendings and PhD professor who is the boss, as well as the typical red ID which instead of MD it will say fMD(future MD), that way people all know who you are.
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ks75682.jpg

You mean like this? Looks like a sweet mix of doctor badass and hogwarts wizard
 
Serious answer:

Your computer or iPad or whatever + charger
A notebook and writing utensil
Your ID badge

That's really it. After you figure out your lecture learning style, you might end up dropping the laptop or the notebook or both (or neither).
 
jqueb29 said:
we have some people who still do this and it really upsets me
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Do you go to medical school in a one room shack in the boonies? In most real medical schools, it'd be crazy not to be wearing your ID. First of all, in my school (urban area) you had to show it upon entry into every building. Most places worth going required a badge swipe at some point.

You'd be SOL without the ID, and pretty much every student wore them at their waist/attached to a belt loop.

Still can't figure out why on god's green earth you're upset.
 
username456789 said:
Do you go to medical school in a one room shack in the boonies? In most real medical schools, it'd be crazy not to be wearing your ID. First of all, in my school (urban area) you had to show it upon entry into every building. Most places worth going required a badge swipe at some point.

You'd be SOL without the ID, and pretty much every student wore them at their waist/attached to a belt loop.

Still can't figure out why on god's green earth you're upset.
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Nope, in a major city where you pretty much never need a badge swipe. It's a completely different story 3rd and 4th years, but anybody who wears it the first 2 years just looks like a goober.
 
jqueb29 said:
Nope, in a major city where you pretty much never need a badge swipe. It's a completely different story 3rd and 4th years, but anybody who wears it the first 2 years just looks like a goober.
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You are almost certainly in the minority there.
 
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