Emergency departments operate in a state of near-constant crisis. Whether it's a hospital-wide IT system crash at 3:00 a.m., a mass casualty event, a string of high-acuity patients, or simply the daily grind of bed block and hallway stretchers, the ED is a crucible. Success depends not just on individual clinical acumen, but on how well we function as teams. Great teams don’t happen by accident — they are built, sustained, and led by people who understand that leadership is not a title, but a way of thinking and behaving. In this EM Cases podcast, we dive deep into what it means to be a leader in EM with three powerhouse voices in Canadian and U.S. EM: Dr. Carolyn Snider, Dr. Howard Ovens, and Dr. Thom Mayer. Whether you’re a veteran staff physician, charge nurse, a resident, or the person holding the door during a trauma code, you are a leader. In this podcast, we cover foundational principles, practical habits, and transformative insights that can make any member of an ED team a more effective, compassionate, and adaptive leader. Here, you’ll find tools, philosophy, and stories that just might transform how you think about your role in the ED to make your work more satisfying, make your teams work together better and improve patient outcomes...

Podcast production, sound design & editing by Anton Helman
Written Summary and blog post by Anton Helman June, 2025
Cite this podcast as: Helman, A. Snider, C. Ovens, H. Mayer, T. Leading from the Inside Out: Building Trust, Teams, and Purpose in Emergency Medicine. Emergency Medicine Cases. June, 2025 https://emergencymedicinecases.com/leadership-emergency-medicine. Accessed June 24, 2025
Résumés EM CasesWe Are All Leaders in Emergency Medicine
Emergency medicine is a team sport. Every team member, from the attending to the triage nurse to the registration clerk, plays a critical role in the delivery of care. And because EM is team-based, every team member has the capacity and responsibility to lead. This kind of leadership isn’t tied to hierarchy or titles. Instead, it starts with leading yourself: showing up prepared, rested, and present. It extends to leading your peers through support, communication, and shared responsibility. And it culminates in contributing to a culture where every person feels valued and empowered to do their best work. Leadership, in this sense, is not a future aspiration. It’s a current responsibility. Whether you’re leading a resuscitation or stepping up in a hallway conversation, you’re shaping the culture and flow of your ED. You’re leading.

“The leader you're looking for is you.” - Dr. Thom Mayer

Leadership Is Not a Title — It’s a Verb: Leadership vs Leading
There’s a big difference between leadership and leading. Leadership is something people talk about; leading is something you do. We all know the type — someone who wants the role, the office, the nameplate — but hasn’t inspired, empowered, or supported anyone around them. Leadership is often conceptualized as a role, a job title, or a position of authority. But leading is a verb. It’s what happens when someone steps up to take initiative, to inspire others, to ask the right question, or to admit a mistake. Leading is actionable, constant, and deeply personal. Emergency medicine is full of moments that call for leading: coordinating a code, de-escalating an agitated patient, advocating for a hallway patient who has waited hours,