Crisis Resource Management

Abstract

In order to effectively and efficiently manage crises in the emergency department, health care professionals must execute highly organized, team-based approaches to care. Crisis resource management (CRM), originally developed for the complex and high-stakes field of aviation, is being adopted as an effective team-based approach for averting and managing crises in multiple fields within healthcare, including emergency medicine. Optimal crisis management in emergency medicine focuses on ten key crisis management behaviors. The simulation environment is an ideal setting to train clinicians in these behaviors and reinforce their importance. Simulation-based, CRM curricula should ensure that the ten behaviors are systematically learned, practiced and reflected upon by learners.