To better prepare medical students for becoming residents, it is necessary to offer early teaching of the "hidden curriculum" professional relationship dynamics (or team building) and clinical competence.

The first half of this book is focused on strategies for team building, including how to identify and support burnt-out residents, delicately handle several forms of challenging patients (angry ones, nervous ones, malingerers, and more), and when and how to stand up to mistreatment by superiors.

The second half is focused on subjects related to obtaining a mastery of clinical competence, including subjects such as distinguishing patients who need immediate attention from those who can wait ("sick" versus "not sick"), how to tactfully deliver bad news to family, and how to assess patient decision-making capacity.