Lessons from three pairs of socks for a third-year medical student

Mr. R, a man with raging bacteremia and a permanent scowl on his face, was probably not the patient a medical student starting their first rotation wanted to admit. I knew it was going to be tough as soon as I met him in the emergency department where I found him complaining loudly about the inedible hospital food, the unbearable temperature in his room, the staff who did not empty his urinal quickly enough, and of course that he did not feel well. It seemed clear he did not like the hospital or anyone in it.