Industry Paper
Application of the Crew Resource Management (CRM) Concepts, Philosophies, and Application in the Health Care Industry
Introduction
The aviation industry has been using the Crew Resource Management (CRM) program to improve air safety through reducing the number of fatal accidents caused by human error. The Crew Resource Management (CRM) is, therefore, a group of tools and techniques that can be used by the team to reduce error in human performance. Many other industries that are affected by error in humans have borrowed from the aviation industry and adopted the Crew Resource Management (CRM) concepts, philosophies, and application. The foundation of the CRM does not focus on how to use the equipment but how they should use the interpersonal skills to improve on communication and engage in their activities as a team to make it safer for their clients (McKoin et al., 2010). In conjunction with the given introduction, the paper will analyse how the healthcare industry has adopted the application of the Crew Resource Management (CRM) tools to make it safer for the patients.
Crew Resource Management (CRM) encourages employees to work as a team instead of an individual. As teams, they are encouraged to discuss the basis of their behaviours and decisions in the workplace. Overton and Frazer (2012) state that this provides an avenue of evaluating how each team member rationalizes situations and information. As a result, fellow team members are able to predict a co-worker's behaviour and what their needs depending on the given situation. This enhances the effectiveness at the workplace, as teams are able to marry their every action to provide a coordinated and swift response in every situation.
Stress is inevitable in every workplace. Identifying stress in the healthcare industry results to significant negative impacts on both the individual and the teams, therefore, affecting their performance. Due to this, stress management is incorporated into Crew Resource Management (CRM) training to help teams deal with high stress environments created by huge goals and time limitations. Overton and Frazer (2012) argues that it is important to understand that stress in an individual affects the activities of the whole team since, in most occasions, their activities and responsibilities affect the outcome of another teammate and therefore the outcome of the whole group. In understanding effective stress management skills, they are able to solve stress issues immediately they occur and thus reducing the chances of such events compromising the effectiveness of their work.
Threat and error management in healthcare is also significantly reduced through adoption of the Crew Resource Management (CRM) skills. McKoin et al., (2010) indicated that there was a rising number in adverse outcomes especially in the surgeries. The number of retained foreign objects used in surgery as well as wrong sight surgeries were significantly rising all over the world. After critical and wide based analysis, it was reported that such results were as a result of poor communication and coordination skills in surgical teams. Crew Resource Management (CRM) could help reduce these issues since through communication; it revolutionizes the effectiveness of specialists involved in the surgery. Through this training, everyone learns their tasks, which reduces the chances of such occurrences taking place.
McKoin et al., (2010) argued that effective teamwork, however, could not be achieved without a defined leadership. A leader unifies a team and makes them feel like a complete unit with all the essential skills needed to deal with any situation. Creating leadership roles in a team ensures that every taskforce has a distributed number of personnel with different talents that are needed for effectiveness in the healthcare industry. It provides a defined decision making procedure that ensure a unified and coordinated course of action every single time.
One of the most essential benefits of Crew Resource Management (CRM) is creating a team briefing and debriefing culture after every project or task performed by the team. This way, the team, is able to analyse every decision they made in their task. This gives them an avenue to rectify or even congratulate themselves depending on the outcomes of the task. Through this, they are able to grow together professionally, improve their team spirits and smooth out any hiccups they may have identified as a team (McKoin et al., 2010).
Benefits acquired from Crew Resource Management (CRM) in the health care industry
Through the successful development and incorporation of Crew Resource Management (CRM) in the various sectors of healthcare, certain benefits could be achieved in the healthcare organizations (Safer Healthcare 2014). They include:
- Simplistic problem solving processes
- Identification of problems and opportunities at the workplace
- Advancement of cross-functioning understanding
- Improved quality and productivity
- Increase of overall morale at the workplace
- Reduced cost of compensation because of mistakes in the hospitals especially the operating room
- Reduced turnover and absenteeism due to increased morale at the workplace.
Employees working in workplaces that have adopted the Crew Resource Management (CRM) also indicate improvements in their workplace activities (Safer Healthcare 2014). The improvements include:
- Improved problem solving skills
- Increased knowledge of interpersonal dynamics
- Increased knowledge in healthcare procedures
- Increased quality of life in the workplace as well at their homes
- Overall satisfaction and commitment at the workplace
Conclusion
The Crew Resource Management (CRM) skills may appear like common sense because of the simplistic overall appearance. In the contrary, they are difficult skills to master since it requires the holistic change of everyone’s interpersonal dynamics in the organization and the organization culture, as well. However, through education, simulation, and practical procedural development of skills, Crew Resource Management (CRM) can be successfully become part of the organizations culture.
References
McKoin, S., Arbittier, D., Wesner, V. S., Moorman, D. W., & Castronouvo, J. J. (2010). Building a culture of operating room safety using crew resource management: Pennsylvania safety advisory, 7 (2): 46-52.
Overton, J. W., & Frazer, E. (Eds.). (2012). Safety and Quality in Medical Transport Systems: Creating an Effective Culture (1st ed), Farnham: Ashgate publishing company.
Safer Healthcare. (2014). Crew Resource Management in healthcare. Retrieved from: http://www.saferhealthcare.com/crew-resource-management/crew-resource- management-healthcare/
