Through previous knowledge, I am aware that many aspects of medical education need to be changed and/or "adapt" to a patient-focused approach, where the physician is as personable and comforting as possible with their patient. From what I have read so far in, "On Call" by Dr. Transeu, I would argue that medical students should be trained in the art of balancing emotion in all settings of a hospital. Yes, residency throws punch after brutal punch at people who were once just average. However, I do not believe that such rigorous training should strip medical students of human empathy. Dr. Transeu does not mention any sort of preperation or education from medical school on how to deal with delivering the news of an all-too-sudden passing, unsuccessful code, or failed surgery (for surgical students) to the family members and/or loved ones waiting with all the hope in the world just a hallway down in the waiting…show more content… Transeu explains that, " if someone gave me the news that I give them, I would simply perish, explode, cease to exist...I’m endlessly amazed to discover, over and over, the strength that people have; their ability to muster coping mechanisms, their ways of managing and going on, surviving the moment” (On Call, 108). She is right; it really is amazing how people find their own ways of coping with such loss. However, it doesn't exactly help the situation when the physician delivering the bad news is cold, detached, monotone even. I assume it would only cause the family/ loved ones to believe that the doctors didn't really do "all they could do" to save their loved one, or that they simply didn't care enough. This brings me to a vignette Dr. Transeu illustrates later in chapter 19, when she is working with her attending Dr. Ellen for a patient, Yvonne. Dr. Ellen says, “You have to get emotionally invested ...It’s the only way to be a doctor” (On Call, 130). This seems to be the only advice on balancing emotion in a medical setting so
