Rule No. 12: Bring order out of chaos.

This is a gift that every good physician needs to cultivate. Whenever human beings find themselves under duress (and what can be more stressful than serious illness?), they begin to lose control. It is understandable. This is where a doctor needs to lend quiet confidence and balance to the family to help them through a crisis. It is a magical thing to experience: whenever a competent, confident physician steps into the room, the volume just gets turned down on everything. The team pulls itself together. Things start to turn around.