Crisis communication
Skills for communicating in crisis situations are increasingly taught in simulators and on Advanced Life Support courses. Many of the techniques advocated have been adapted from safe practice developed for the airline industry and can make a powerful contribution to the man- agement of a clinical emergency. An example would be the use of individual task allocation and loop closing: the response to ‘can someone draw up an epinephrine infusion?’ could either be ‘yes’ followed by no action, ‘no, I’m busy intubating the patient’ or a variety of actions by any member of the team. An alternative would be ‘Nick, I want you to draw up a standard strength epineph- rine infusion immediately and bring it to me at the bedside as soon as it’s ready’.