History

Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CCrISP®) is a product of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and was designed by Mr. Iain Anderson, consult general surgeon.

The establishment of the CCrISP® course was a major educational project and was born out of the Hillsborough Soccer tragedy of 1989. The development of the program was sponsored by the Hillsborough Trust and RCS launched their first course in 1998. It was acknowledged that a systematic approach to the management of actual or potentially ill patients would maximise the chances of a good clinical outcome. This was reinforced by Australian research which demonstrated a high mortality rate of unexpected admission to ICU and an average delay in definitive management despite several episodes of medical review.

The CCrISP® course assists doctors in developing simple, useful skills for managing critically ill patients, and promotes the coordination of multidisciplinary care where appropriate. The course is as much about putting clinical knowledge, acumen, and procedural skills to use as it is about communication, responsibility and leadership. The CCrISP® course encourages Trainees to adopt a system of assessment to avoid errors and omissions, and uses relevant clinical scenarios to reinforce the objectives.