Decision-Making During High-Risk Events: A Systematic Literature Review.

Area of Science:

• Decision-making science
• Crisis management
• Cognitive psychology

Background:

• Effective decision-making in crisis events is complex due to time constraints, uncertainty, and dynamic environments.
• Trained professionals in high-stakes fields face significant challenges in making critical decisions under pressure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review empirical research on how trained professionals make naturalistic decisions under pressure.
• To identify key themes and factors influencing decision-making in crisis events across various domains.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of 32 empirical research papers from PubMed and PsycINFO.
• Structured qualitative analysis to extract key themes related to decision-making processes.
• Analysis across diverse professional domains including healthcare, military, aviation, and emergency services.

Main Results:

• Five main themes emerged: decision-making strategy, time pressure, stress, uncertainty, and errors.
• Recognition-primed decision-making (RPD) was frequently reported, alongside analytical strategies in less time-sensitive contexts.
• Practitioner experience, time pressure, stress, and uncertainty were identified as major influencing factors.

Conclusions:

• Professionals must adapt decision-making strategies based on available time, uncertainty levels, and individual expertise.
• Understanding these decisional factors is crucial for developing evidence-based training, technology, and process improvements.
• Variability in research focus and methodology highlights the need for standardized approaches in studying crisis decision-making.