Welcome, SAFisher:

You raise a good point. I like to call it "don't just do something, stand there!"

In dealing with emergencies on a professional basis, we call it a "scene size-up." It is always a good idea to take a moment or two to ask yourself three fundamental questions: What is actually happening, or has happened, here, overall? What resources, information, etc. do I have on hand, and what else will I need? What is my plan or objective?

There on endless variations on this basic theme, but they all involve the idea of thinking before acting. Along with that is the idea of getting one's emotions under control. Crisis management is a learnable skill. Practice, pre-planning, and experience help, but the cognitive component is rather durable and often surprisingly transferable across disciplines.

Jeff