When Seconds Matter: Communication under pressure | Brian Kendall Brittany Bankhead | TEDxCharleston

The same communication strategies that help doctors save lives in a trauma bay—the hospital’s version of a “crisis command center”—can also transform the way we connect in our homes, workplaces, and relationships. Dr. Brian Kendall is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician and core faculty at Trident Hospital in Charleston, SC, where he also serves as Clerkship Director for VCOM students. He has held leadership positions as Assistant Medical Director of a Level 1 Trauma Center emergency department and Course Director for Advanced Trauma Life Support. His career includes academic appointments, numerous invited presentations on trauma, quality, and communication, and publications in both peer-reviewed journals and medical education. He is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and has been recognized with awards for teaching, professionalism, and clinical excellence. Dr. Brittany Bankhead is an Associate Professor of Surgery at MUSC and is a Trauma and Surgical Critical Care surgeon who trained at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and UT Austin Dell Medical School. She has served in leadership roles nationally with the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and internationally through the CovidSurg Collaborative, contributing to multiple landmark studies in The Lancet and British Journal of Surgery. Her research spans communication in the trauma bay, resident education, and surgical resilience, and she has delivered invited talks at major conferences across the United States. She is passionate about translating lessons from the trauma bay into strategies for leadership, communication, and resilience in everyday life. Dr. Kendall & Dr. Bankhead met in college and attended medical school together. Now, they bring a rare dual perspective as both a married couple, parents of 2, and frontline physicians, blending the immediacy of the ER with the complexity of trauma surgery to offer lessons that transcend medicine. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx