Kris Kaull: Resiliency in EMS

“Make like Elsa and let it go.” Bypass burnout and arrive at fulfillment

January 29, 2021 02:58 PM •

In a MedPage Today’s KevinMD article, Gail Gazelle presents 7 habits of highly resilient physicians. These methods – all applicable to EMS – allow us to bypass burnout and arrive at fulfillment (or at least some happy medium of being content).

In this episode of the MCHD Paramedic Podcast, our host, Casey Patrick, MD, FAEMS, assistant medical director for the Montgomery County Hospital District EMS, is joined by Kris Kaull, BS, NRP, FP-C, critical care flight paramedic and Pulsara Chief Marketing Officer. Together, they explore burnout prevention and redirection, with tips including:

Life is short: Keep this mantra on the front burner
Make like Elsa and let it go: Perfectionism is a recipe for anxiety and stress
Control your thought intake and output: Being negative is tiring and contagious
Teddy Roosevelt said, “comparison is the thief of joy:” Comparing yourself to other is an absolute waste of time and energy

MCHD Paramedic Podcast · Episode 92 - Resilience in EMS With Kris Kaull

Listen to next: How to prevent, recognize and cure burnout in EMS

MCHD Paramedic Podcast

The MCHD Paramedic Podcast was launched in early 2018 in an effort to provide easily consumable core-content EMS education and insights from prehospital care thought leaders. The Clinical Services Department of The Montgomery County Hospital District EMS service developed the podcast as a tool to better engage and disseminate continuing education to our MCHD medics as well as first responders and EMS professionals nationwide.

Dr. Casey Patrick is the assistant medical director for Montgomery County Hospital District EMS and is a practicing emergency physician in multiple community emergency departments across Greater Houston. His EMS educational focus is on innovative paramedic teaching via the MCHD Paramedic Podcast. Dr. Patrick’s prehospital clinical research involves the investigation of paramedic use of bolus dose intravenous nitroglycerin for acute pulmonary edema and the implementation of lung protective ventilation strategies for intubated EMS patients. Casey and his wife, Alyssa, work and live in Conroe, Texas, and Spokane, Washington. Together they have five children: Mia, Ainsley, Brock, Dean and Will.

Dr. Dickson graduated with honors from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in 2001 and completed emergency medicine training at Indiana University in 2004. He serves as the EMS medical director at Montgomery County Hospital District EMS and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. His academic interests include systems of care in stroke and other time-sensitive emergencies, neurologic emergencies and education. He is board certified in emergency medicine in both the U.S. and Australasia, and has subspecialty board certification in EMS medicine. He has authored multiple professional articles and presented at regional, national and international conferences on emergency medicine and EMS topics.