title: A concept analysis of situational awareness in nursing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This article reports an analysis of the concept of situational awareness in nursing.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Situational awareness is a fundamental and well-understood concept used to maintain operational safety in high reliability organizations; however, it has not been studied in nursing. Nurses play a critical role in providing vigilance in health care and what they do or fail to do is directly related to patient outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multiple databases, including PubMed, CINAHL, JSTOR, and Google Scholar, were searched with the term, 'situational awareness'. The primary search, used to identify all uses of the concept, did not employ date criteria. A secondary search for articles measuring situational awareness as an independent or dependent variable was completed using 2009-2011 articles.
  
  
  METHODS
  Concept Analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The concept of situational awareness was examined using Walker and Avant's eight step method of analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three defining attributes of situational awareness include perception, comprehension, and projection. Situational awareness is defined as the perception of the elements in the environment in a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning and the projection of their status in the near future. Although situational awareness is related to other terms in nursing, there is increasing recognition that the concept, which is likely a consolidation of the related terms, has an impact on healthcare professionals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Failures in perception, comprehension, and/or projection can significantly reduce the accuracy and appropriateness of patient care decisions. Therefore, as a precursor to decision making, poor or inadequate levels of situational awareness present serious threats to patient safety. Situational awareness needs to be examined in a theoretical context, studied systematically and openly recognized as a key factor in the delivery of safe patient care.
authors.affiliation: Jonas Veterans Healthcare Scholar Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for Patient Safety, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Clinical Team Training, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for Patient Safety, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Fore
authors.forename: Gary L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Sculli
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D003210:Concept Formation; D009736:Nursing Process
keywords: concept analysis; nursing; patient safety; situational awareness