My student

I love having a student on the ward.

For the first week, I used him as a tour guide because I was new to the hospital and he'd already been there a week.

And I appreciate his presence on ward rounds because the consultant always bombards him with medical questions, which leaves me to act very busy because usually I don't know the answer.

And, like many of my colleagues, I love teaching. It's not entirely altruistic. It makes me feel smart.

Like today.

He'd never taken blood before, so after going through the theory I let him practice on me before setting him loose on a patient. Ego-boosting success all round, and he barely left a mark.

I also took him with me for the solemn task of verifying a patient's death. I told him my most important tip (turn on the lights), and let him see for himself how hard it is to say for certain that a patient has absent breath sounds.

As I drove home from work, I thought about how good I'd been,  taking this young student under my wing.

And that's when I got his text message: "I reckon I might go home now if that's cool. Anything for me to do before I leave?"

Oops.