Decision Making Approaches in Aviation and Medicine

Aviation is characterized by its overall maxim of safety. Consequently, this shapes decision making especially in a cockpit, where effective, workable – and safe – solutions have to be reached within a limited amount of time and often under stress. Obviously, this has lot in common with making judgments in medicine. Therefore, a comparative perspective is taken to clarify commonalities in this regard between both professional fields. Subsequently the derived similarities indicate how findings from aviation are applicable to practical decision making in medicine. Since manifold parameters significantly influence and partially impair the process of approaching decisions, these formative components like constraints and the human factor are described as well. The paramount objective of safety and the particular requirements in cockpits led to standardized procedures for pilots aiming to structure complex and critical situations. These brief and formalized routines are outlined as they represent practicable methods for deciders in aviation likewise in medicine. Since the entire process of making decisions is sui generis, due to the human influence, error prone, this topic cannot be separated from its surrounding error culture. This aspect is mentioned to complete the picture, since the management of potential failure affects decision making as a whole.