Non-technical skills and human factors are increasingly recognized as critical ingredients in the success or failure of acute care delivery in a number of high stakes clinical domains. This is reflected in the evolution of life support courses, which now incorporate components of the zero point survey (ZPS). For example, the European Trauma Course emphasizes team briefs and equipment checks, and the Advanced Pediatric Life Support Course manual contains the I’M SAFE checklist. However our collective experience of debriefing hundreds of real and simulated resuscitations in four nations suggests a need for a memorable and structured approach to addressing non-technical preparation. Although our ZPS concepts are likely appreciated by experienced practitioners, they are still not widely or explicitly taught.

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