Are you Aware?

Most of us have driven down a stretch of road to arrive at a familiar destination, not really remembering details of the drive.   This "auto-pilot" state is the opposite of situational awareness, which is defined as knowing what is going on, why it is happening and being prepared for what could happen next. A lack of situational awareness can lead to errors and slips. Situational awareness is also essential for the clinician to critically evaluate information and to plan for future events, as in this article describing surge capacity in the ED. This awareness is a key component found in high reliability organizations.