Review article: Crisis resource management in emergency medicine |
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Authors: | Belinda Carne Marcus Kennedy Tim Gray |
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Affiliation: | 1. Emergency Department, Geelong Hospital;2. School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong;3. Adult Retrieval Victoria, Ambulance Victoria;4. Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice;5. Central Clinical School, Monash University;6. Australian Centre for Health Innovation, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Abstract: | Effective team management is a core element of expert practice in emergency medicine. Thus far, training in emergency medicine has focussed predominantly on proficiency in medical and technical skills, with emergency physicians acquiring these ‘non‐technical’ skills in an ad hoc manner or by trial and error with varying levels of success. This paper describes a set of behaviours that, when practised in conjunction with medical and technical expertise, can reduce the incidence of clinical error and contribute to effective teamwork and the smooth running of an ED. Teaching and practice of these behaviours is now a core element of training and skills maintenance in other high‐risk areas, such as aviation, and is becoming part of the routine training for anaesthetists. They address areas, such as communication, leadership, knowledge of environment, anticipation and planning, obtaining timely assistance, attention allocation and workload distribution. We outline the application of these behaviours in the speciality of emergency medicine, and suggest that the teaching and practice of crisis resource management principles should become part of the curriculum for training and credentialing of emergency medicine specialists. |
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Keywords: | communication crisis resource management emergency medicine leadership patient safety teamwork |
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