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Table 1 Endsley’s taxonomy of Situation Awareness errors

From: Situation awareness errors in anesthesia and critical care in 200 cases of a critical incident reporting system

SA level I

Fail to perceive or misperception of information

1.1

Data was not available

1.2

Data was hard to discriminate or detect (e.g., visual barrier)

1.3

Failure to monitor or observe data

1.4

Misperception of data

1.5

Memory loss

SA level II

Improper integration or comprehension of information

2.1

Lack or incomplete mental model

2.2

Use of incorrect mental model

2.3

Over-reliance on default values

SA level III

Incorrect projections of future trends

3.1

Lack or incomplete mental model

3.2

Over-projection of current trends

  1. On each of the levels, errors can occur and SA may be inaccurate, incomplete or even wrong [6]. In SA level I (perception) errors information may be unavailable, hard to detect, is perceived incorrectly (although presented correctly), is not observed due to inadequate distribution of attention or simply forgotten. As mental models, automaticity and pattern matching abilities develop over time, individual lack of experience may contribute to a limited capability of adequate and quick information processing resulting in SA level II and III errors