Including Northwell Health, Northern Westchester Hospital, and Leading Organizations Nationwide
The healthcare field is running on fumes. David Atkins speaks directly to the nurses, physicians, and hospital leaders who carry the weight of everyone else and haven't asked themselves one question in years. What is the one decision I keep putting off?
This is what it looks like when a room of nurses, physicians, and healthcare leaders stops running on empty and commits to something different.
Healthcare professionals are trained to absorb the weight of every patient, every family, every high-stakes moment. They are not trained to ask for help. Burnout is not a character flaw. It is what happens when people who care too much keep running the same race without stopping to ask why. Nearly 62% of nurses and 48% of physicians report burnout. The system is not going to fix it. But one decision can start to.
David has delivered the One Decision Away message to the nursing leadership staff at Northwell Health and Northern Westchester Hospital. He knows what it means to stand in front of a room full of people who are extraordinary at caring for others and have stopped caring for themselves.
One Decision Away is not a resilience workshop. It is a moment of clarity. Every nurse, physician, and healthcare leader leaves with one decision. Written down. Said out loud. Committed to in front of peers. Not a good intention. A real act.
Burnout in healthcare is not a scheduling problem. It is a decision problem. The decision to keep giving without ever asking what you need.
Forged at Ground Zero. Through 22 years of service. Across 62 miles of desert on foot. Not a program. Not a policy. A shift that starts in the room and follows your people home.
Every nurse and physician has one decision that has been pushed to the back of the line. This step names it. You cannot give your best care when you have not decided to care for yourself first.
Staffing shortages. Endless documentation. The culture that says push through. David names what is actually in the way and why the approach that got your people here is the same one burning them out.
Your people leave with a written commitment. One decision. Said out loud. Not a good intention. A real act that starts the moment they walk out of the room.
Most keynote speakers talk about burnout from a distance. David Atkins spent 22 years as a New York State Trooper, absorbing trauma, leading under pressure, and showing up for everyone else first. He was at Ground Zero on 9/11. He understands the culture of service from the inside. He also knows what it takes to rebuild. After retiring, he built a 1,400-person organization and became a Top 1/2 of 1% Million Dollar Earner. When David stands on your stage, your nurses and physicians are not hearing theory. They are hearing from someone who has been exactly where they are and made it to the other side.
David does not leave your nurses and physicians with a motivational memory that fades on the drive home. He leaves them with a decision made out loud, a shift in perspective, and a clearer picture of what they are choosing to protect going forward.
Burnout is not inevitable and it is not weakness. David reframes it as a signal. The moment before the wall is the moment to make a different decision. Not next year. Not after the next shift. Now.
Healthcare professionals are brilliant at justifying why their needs come last. David dismantles that logic with one question: how does your patient feel when you are running on empty? Self-care is patient care.
Staffing shortages. Administrative burden. Impossible hours. David does not minimize any of it. He walks people from the weight of what they cannot control to the one thing they always can. Their next decision.
Every person writes their ONE decision on a Post-It and puts it on the wall. Said out loud. In front of colleagues. A real commitment that leaves the conference room and goes home with them.
Healthcare workers treat every patient with urgency. They treat themselves last. David brings the same life-or-death seriousness to the question of your people's wellbeing and turns it into action before they leave the room.
From verified conference attendees across industries. Real reactions. Real rooms.
From leadership conferences and professional events nationwide
Breathtaking, refreshing, and much needed to hear on a personal level and professional level.
Motivating. Applicable equally to Life and Work. Shows the value of building strong foundations for future success.
Makes you think about what you want. Allows that selfish desire to be what YOU want from your life, not others' vision for you.
Need to hear sometimes you forget. It helps you remember what you want to do in life.
Enlightening information for work life balance during the pursuit of happiness and achieving personal and family goals.
This enforces why we make decisions even when we are scared or don't know what the outcome will be. One decision can change the trajectory of your life.
David does not just motivate you. He makes you stop and ask the one question you have been avoiding. For people in healthcare who give everything to everyone else, that question is everything.
David speaks at hospital leadership conferences, nursing summits, physician wellness events, and healthcare association meetings nationwide. His team responds within one business day.
NEW YORK · CHICAGO · DALLAS · PHOENIX · ORLANDO · ATLANTA · DENVER · LAS VEGAS · NATIONWIDE
Every seat in that room is a person who needs to hear this. The only question is whether they hear it at your event.
Fill out the form and David's team will respond within one business day. You can also reach David directly at 914-221-7390 or david@davidatkinsspeaks.com.