Project Abstract:

Evaluation of Medical Team Training

• Industry: Healthcare
• Business Need: Team Training
• Client: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

A recent report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) suggests that medical errors cause up to 98,000 deaths each year. Given its track record of success in military and commercial aviation, Crew Resource Management (CRM) training has been identified as a promising means for reducing errors in health care. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the best practices in CRM-derived medical team training programs.

We began by convening a 15-member panel of experts in aviation and medical human factors to provide background information and direction for subsequent phases of the project. We then conducted a comprehensive review of published and unpublished documents on CRM training in health care, aviation, and the military. We followed this up with a series of direct course observations, participant questionnaires, and instructor interviews.

The project resulted in several major deliverables, including an expert panel of researchers in aviation and health care human factors, a comprehensive literature review that documented the state-of-the science in medical team training, case study descriptions of three different medical team training programs, and the first module of a comprehensive toolkit to assist AHRQ program officers in evaluating the effectiveness of medical team training programs under their purview. We have recently received follow-on funding to create additional modules for this toolkit, and to publish an edited book on CRM training in health care.