Well-known global health priorities (malaria, pneumonia, sepsis, diarrhea, human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], tuberculosis, trauma), although very different threats to an individual's health, share a common consequence: Development of acute, life-threatening illness. In the developed world, such illness is routinely treated in an intensive care unit (ICU) by highly specialized physicians, nurses and support staff. This model of intensive care is spreading rapidly to low and middle income countries and as it spreads, challenges and limitations to this model arise [1].With an estimated $1000-20,000 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained, critical care support for potentially reversible acute medical or surgical illness should be one of the most cost-effective health care interventions [2,3]. Unfortunately, incomplete knowledge of the best practices by front-line clinicians and delayed, error-prone care delivery processes are ubiquitous threats to patient safety and commonly offset the potential benefits of critical care support. This is particularly important early in the course of critical illness, when errors and