Crisis Management in Acute Care Settings

Human Factors, Team Psychology, and Patient Safety in a High Stakes Environment

Critical situations in acute and emergency care are one of the great clinical challenges because of the uncertainty, high stakes, time pressure, and stress that are involved. This book provides a comprehensive outline of all the human factors issues relevant to patient safety during acute care. Following an initial section discussing the basic principles of human behavior and decision making, the various influences on safe patient care are discussed in depth. These are divided into three interacting groups:  individual factors, team factors, and organizational factors. Relevant psychological theories are carefully examined, and case studies and descriptions of proven strategies help to ground these theories in daily practice. This newly revised edition, in which each chapter has been enlarged and updated, will help both physicians and non-physicians to better understand the principles of human behavior and decision making in critical situations and thus to provide safer treatment.