Earlier in life, as a military sim instructor on a twin engined type! I taught that all engine problems were to be announced as "engine malfunctions" and not engine failures.
The initial actions were to be:
"Captain to crew - engine malfunction".
"Checking the Nr".
Case 1. Nr is low
Lower collective, contain Nr within limits.
Case 2. Nr is high
Raise collective, contain Nr within limits.
Then diagnose the malfunction and carry out secondary actions / shutdown drills as appropriate.
From experience, this set brains thinking along the correct path. We taught initial students and experienced pilots. I watched both make the initial mistake of assuming an engine failure and rapidly lowering the lever and flaring, which confuses the issue. I watched one relatively senior and experienced squadron pilot mis-diagnose engine malfunctions a number of times to begin with because he couldn't unlearn his incorrect habit of dumping the lever. He eventually got the message and for him the simulator training was probably a life saver. I watched another ab initio pilot who considered himself a smart cookie and tended to rush everything. He dumped the lever after being given a Fire warning on the downwind leg at 800 feet. I had intended it to be a spurious warning but to my surprise, he lowered the collective a long way and allowed the aircraft to descend till it hit the ground while he misdiagnosed the fault and carried out fire drills and a single engine shutdown. The aircraft was fully serviceable apart from a false fire warning. That was one occasion where I was glad I had set record because he point blank refused to believe me when I debriefed him until I replayed the sim.