Path to Excellent

Crew Resource Management

To err is human … from Patient Safety to High Reliability through Crew Resource Management

The publication of Institute of Medicine (IOM) in Year 2000, “To Err Is Human”, breaks the silence that has surrounded medical errors and their consequence. It sets forth a national agenda for reducing medical errors and improving patient safety through the design of a safer health system.

Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, adopted from the aviation industry, embraces practical tools to address human factors with a view to eliminate or mitigate preventable human error and improve patient safety.

PYNEH is the first hospital in Hong Kong pioneering CRM training. More than 2,900 clinical staff have been trained since 2009. The program is now extended to all staff of hospitals in cluster level, aiming at organization cultural change at all levels and across disciplines. Evaluation of training effectiveness showed encouraging results with improvement in 11 of the 12 dimensions of safety culture as delineated by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in the post-training survey.

The revolutionary CRM training injects cohesive team spirit and momentum to the healthcare workplace and thus crafting a more detailed blueprint for organizations to follow if they are committed to crossing the chasm that they and their patients face every day.