Hard Rock Medical

What do medical schools look for in a prospective doctor? You’d think it would be book smarts, high marks, and a basic type-A personality. Then why the crazy interview questions? Most of the candidates are baffled by the process. All they can do is hope to find the right answers—and that who and what they are will get them over the bar and on their way to being a doctor.

The first day of anatomy class has everyone’s undivided attention, except for Charlie’s—he has pressing family business to attend to. Gina almost becomes the early first victim of medical school’s high attrition rates until an unlikely rescuer talks her off the ledge and back into class.

The students are introduced to one of their constituencies—a First Nations community—by participating in a moose hunt complete with ritual preparations, the dispatching of the animal, and the enjoyment of the spoils. Gary and Farida’s beliefs clash, and, back in town, Gina walks in on a pharmacy robbery.

A clinic is set up in a former construction trailer in a remote community. Melanie oversteps her authority and confronts a miner she believes is abusing his wife. Eva is surprised when one of the clinic’s patients is her ex-lover and band mate, and a goat is Charlie’s reward for a job well done. Strapped for cash, Gina takes a job modeling for a life-drawing class.

Students have their first encounter with difficult medical conditions— dementia and terminal cancer. While caring for an elderly dementia patient, Gina and Melanie have an argument over Melanie’s apparent reporting of a wife abuser. Charlie and Farida have different ideas about how to help a single mom with cancer deal with her kids.

Dr. Helvi’s sister is in prolonged labour, and Gary and Cameron are brought in to assist. Eva and Nancy are on rotation in the maternity ward at the Sudbury hospital, where Eva helps a couple of young Aboriginal teens through their ordeal. Nancy comes face to face with her past, while Gina gets a reminder from the registrar that her tuition is overdue.