Redamancy • Mark Sloan

4x01-A Change is Gonna Come

When Charlie walked into the hospital, she smiled wide.

The scene was reminiscent of her last first day, though this time around, she was no longer a sad intern, but rather a resident. One who's life had just begun to flourish.

Glancing at Mark happily, the man grinned, before placing a tender kiss on her lips, "Knock'em dead sweetheart. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, you bet you will." She murmured, kissing him again, before running into the residents' lounge, and hurrying to place her things in her new locker.

Grabbing the piece of paper with her interns names on it, she hurried to memorise it, as she walked through the slowly-crowding hallways.

Coming to a stop in front of the interns' locker room, she watched as group of four hurried to her.

She smiled at the nervous looks on their faces, before beginning, "Alright, welcome to Seattle-Grace Hospital everyone. I have five rules, memorise them, and we should all be golden." When they nodded their understanding, she continued her improvised speech, "Rule number 1: Don't suck up. I don't know you, therefore I do not trust you. Work to earn that trust, and things will be very smooth-sailing. You're interns, you will make mistakes, that's normal. It's my job as your resident to help you reduce them significantly.  These are your pagers, as well as your trauma protocols." She gestured towards the station, grinning when they'll hurried to grab theirs, "The former must stay on you at all times. Sleep with it, eat with it. Hell, take it into the bathroom with you whilst you're showering. The latter must be memorised, so please do so as soon as you can, if you'd like to eventually scrub into something."

As she began walking, she gestured for them to follow her, continuing, "Which leads us steadily to rule number 2: When the nurses page, you run. You don't walk, or hurry, you sprint. People may be dying, and lives are constantly at stake, so don't taken chances. Rule number 3: You don't disrespect the nurses, or talk down to them. Nurses make this hospital go 'round, and their expertise overrides both yours and mine. So should I hear any complains, there will be some kind of hell to pay, okay?"

The group nodded furiously, some fear in their eyes. The girl smiled happily, "Your shift began..." she glanced at her watch, "Three minutes ago, and lasts around forty-eight hours. You are interns, basically standing at the bottom of the surgical food-chain, but that does not mean your opinions don't count. This is a team sport, so do not be afraid to speak up. You'll do the grunt work; run labs, write orders and give it your 100%, 100% of the time. It sucks sometimes, but that is how you learn, via experience." 

Pushing open a door, she gestured for them to look inside, explaining, "On-Call rooms. Attendings, and residents hog them, but do try to catch some rest whenever there's some free time for you do so. Trust me, you'll need it around here." She chuckled, happy to watch her humour land and her interns giggle.

"Which leads us to rule number 4: If I'm sleeping, please try not to interrupt that. I don't get a whole lot of it to begin with. That being said, don't be stupid, if you need help, come to me or page me immediately. Better for me to be slightly annoyed at being woken up, than supremely pissed that a patient is in critical condition, or dead. Always ask your question, no matter how stupid they may seem. Better to get your answers now, than to potentially stupidly kill a patient later on."