Stressful events can hijack cognition, cloud judgment, and leave emotional residue that can fuel long-term burnout. For acute care clinicians, those moments of emotional overwhelm, when heart rate spikes and the thinking brain goes offline, can have consequences that last far beyond the shift. While long-term resilience is essential, it’s often the just-in-time strategies that determine whether we break down or rise to the moment. In this episode, we explore the physiology and psychology of real-time emotional regulation with Scott Weingart, MD, co-creator of the Beat the Stress Fool protocol. Finally, we uncover how practices like gratitude flooding and negative visualization can inoculate against burnout and offer emotional integrity in the most harrowing moments of care.

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Scott Weingart, MD, is an emergency department intensivist and physician coach based in New York. He completed fellowships in Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, and ECMO, and is internationally recognized for his expertise in resuscitation and critical care. As the creator of the EMCrit podcast, with over 40 million downloads, he has shaped how clinicians think and perform under pressure. Together, Scott and I co-founded Guidewire Coaching, where we create and teach tailored courses to address the real-world pain points of acute care medicine.

We Discuss:

Rapid stress reset with “Beat the Stress Fool”
Breathing techniques that calm the nervous system
Self-talk under pressure
Mental rehearsal that ends in success
Trigger words for fast de-escalation
Gratitudinal flooding as a shield during emotional overload
Real-time tools for grief resilience
The quiet strength of negative visualization
Teaching stress tools to trainees without pushback

Mentioned in this episode:

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UnBurnable - Our Cohort-Based Burnout Prevention and Cure Course

As physician coaches, my partner, Scott Weingart, and I have noticed a pattern: some doctors are thoroughly burned out, and some are on the path to burnout. Almost all were shortchanged in their medical training, having been molded into excellent clinicians but given virtually no tools for retaining joy and equanimity throughout their careers. This course will teach you the hidden anti-burnout curriculum.

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5 Free Tools To Make Medical Practice Easier

Scripts for your least favorite conversations. The quick and dirty guide to calling consults. A 10-minute "Driveway Debrief" to switch off from work. My favorite documentation templates. Step-by-step guide for delivering the news of death.

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