PHOENIX — Dr. Dan Dworkis, an ER physician and host of the Emergency Mind Podcast, gave an informative and engaging presentation to EMS leaders at the 2025 Pinnacle EMS leadership conference. Dworkis explored how to bridge the gap between having knowledge, gained through education and training, and applying that knowledge under pressure.
Dworkis is the chief medical officer at the MIssion Critical Team Institute and the author of “The Emergency Mind: Wiring Your Brain for Performance Under Pressure.” His presentation, “Resilience and Evolution 3— Leading EMS in a Complex World,” used storytelling concepts to inspire leaders as they head into a rapidly changing future.
Memorable quotes
Here are four memorable quotes from Dworkis’ presentation:
- “To be good under, we have to have knowledge and apply that knowledge under pressure.”
- “Resilience — we are talking about longevity. This is about career survival and being here for a long time.”
- “Service with sacrifice is OK. Service with self-destruction is not OK.”
- “Excellence is more than just the lack of bad things happening.”
Top takeaways
“Our brains are wired to think about the world in stories,” Dworkis said.
Stories can help improve performance. Stories can inform identify, resilience and excellence. Dworkis used stories within the presentation to prepare leaders for rapid change, high stakes and shifting priorities. Dworkis, to help EMS leaders understand the challenges they face and how to perform under press, explained 3 concepts:
- Identity
- Resilience
- Excellence
Here are three top takeaways for those concepts.
1. Identity
“We are the people who ...” is the starting point for the story about our identity. That used to be straightforward, such as “we are the people who” respond to out-of-hospital emergencies. As equipment, protocols and assessments change and evolve, they change our practice, but they also change our identity. For example, EMS has changed from simply transporting, to providing definitive care for some patients, from treating trauma to providing public health services.
Dworkis asked the attendees to discuss two questions at their tables and then share their discussion with other attendees:
- Who are we still?
- Who do we need to become?
2. Resilience
Dworkis told a story of attempting to care for patients while also suffering from severe GI illness. At the time, he thought he was serving others with sacrifice, but later realized the story he was telling himself and others was a story of self-destruction. He needed to practice self-care and ask for help; two things that challenged his identity of being a caregiver able to work through any challenge.
“How do we tell stories about serving the common good while taking care of ourselves?” he asked.
During this portion of the presentation, Dworkis asked attendees to answer two questions:
- Where do our stories of service help us?
- Where do our stories of service hurt us?
3. Excellence
“Excellence is the concept of what we are aiming at.”
Dworkins explained that excellence is more than avoidance of bad outcomes, but if all we aim at is avoidance of bad things, EMS won’t be able to meet the challenges of the future. In this final section of the presentation, Dworkins asked EMS leaders to discuss this question:
- What is the future we are aiming for?
