Improving care by understanding the way we work: human factors and behavioural science in the context of intensive care

Table 1 Systems approach applied to intensive care

System components	Evidence from the paper of Fackler et al. [1]	Evidence from other sources (sample)
Individual skill (technical and non-technical)	Technical:
	1. Pattern recognition
	Non-technical:	Non-technical skills in intensive care [9]:
	2. Management of uncertainty	* Task management
	3. Creation and transfer of stories	* Teamworking
		* Situation awareness
		* Decision-making
Teamwork and communication	4. Team coordination	Assessment of teamwork in critical care [10, 11]
	5. Team communication
	6. Fragmentary teams	Assessment of communication in ICU staff [12–14]:
	7. Shifting teams	* Aspects of communication: openness, timeliness, and accuracy
	9. Role ambiguity	* Interactions between leadership (by doctors and nurses) and communication
		Communication as a source of error [15]
ICU environment	8. Increasing shift handovers	Physical, emotional, and professional environment in ICUs [16]
	10. External collaborators
		Task interruptions in ICU doctors and nurses and potential for error [17]

ISSN: 1364-8535