Who adheres to old habits, will never accomplishes new goals!

 

First Aeromedical CRM (ACRM) training at OMSZ in Hungary

In recent years Hungarian HEMS (Magyar Légimentő Nonprofit Kft.) had undergone an enormous change towards HEMS on a central-European standard.
Thereby they decided to implement the Aeromedical CRM training program of EHAC. Referring to this, a first test training took place at Lake Balaton on March 27th and 28th 2008. This training was held in English and was executed by two members of the EHAC Aeromedical CRM trainer pool. It came up to the groups’ expectations which consisted of all three HEMS professions (pilot, emergency physician and HEMS-Crewmember). Peter Túri (Managing Director) said: “We definitely want to implement the Aeromedical CRM training in our system. This is another brick which contributes security in our daily work in HEMS.” More training, held in Hungary, is already planned.

2 Hot runs already performed successfully

The Aeromedical CRM training concept, which came from a transnational “Leonardo Da Vinci Project”, was already used in two test runs. Thereby it had arisen that the compiled training format was practice-oriented and had reached its objective target.

Valuable feedbacks are used in a continuous improving process to enhance the training program. The feedbacks from the first hot run were already used at the second Aeromedical CRM training of the ADAC Luftrettung GmbH, which took place on 6th-8th of February 2008 in Lengerich.

History of Aeromedical CRM

Analysis in a number of industrial sectors (e.g.: aviation industry, nuclear power industry, petrochemical industry) have indicated that not the material or technical failure are the major causes, but up to 80% of accident causes can be attributed to human factors. Not only the technical skills like flying an aircraft or learning knowledge are important, but especially the non-technical skills (NTS) like communication, teamwork, leadership, situation awareness and decision-making.

These non-technical skills are building the content of the training program “Crew Resource Management (CRM)”, which is compulsory for pilots and crewmembers in HEMS. With a long history in aviation industry, CRM is focusing on the target groups in this industry. In HEMS, also the medical procedures in the team are an important part of the mission, including the emergency physician as medical team member. Positive effects about flight and patient safety can be reached from a common training concept, which is pleased from all professional groups, contributes to teambuilding, mutual trust and a common mental model.

In front of all this background, representatives from different European HEMS organisations joined the project “Leonardo da Vinci” in 2004, which was supported by the European Union, to develop a unitary training and further education concept for human factor training in HEMS. This was the birth of Aeromedical CRM. The training program focuses on realistic human factor aspects in the HEMS team and is based on the fundamentals of the classical CRM.

Aim

The aim of the Aeromedical CRM training is the sustainable improvement of non- technical skills of the aeromedical team and an increase of the flight and patient safety.

Target Groups

The Target group of the Aeromedical CRM Training spreads over all professional groups who are involved in HEMS missions:

• pilots
• HEMS crewmember
• emergency physician
• maintenance staff

 

Aeromedical CRM desires an expansion of the target groups to other professions involved in HEMS other than the helicopter team:

• headquarter and back office staff in HEMS
• hospital staff (e.g.: emergency room)
• ground emergency service staff
• air ambulance staff

The EHAC Working Group cooperation is actually designed for the German-speaking community. An expansion to the English speaking community is planned soon. The training materials are also available in English. All organization, who want to join the EHAC Aeromedical CRM Group are guided through a consultation process to reach the level of performance to implement the training program (reference: Magyar Légimentő Nonprofit Kft.).

The Training Programme

The defined contents will be imparted and compiled in theoretical and practical parts. The distribution of theory and practice orients towards knowledge of the participants and the consistence of the group. To reach and involve the participants, different methods are used: experiential educational tasks, group discussions, case based studies, video analysis, role plays, scenic graphs and other methods which are suited for the particular situations and topics.
With the aid of this diversity of methods the participants are able to learn how to solve difficult and complex working situations.

Here are some main points:

• Support of teambuilding processes
• Development of a common language
• Development of a common goal
• Sensitizations of individual expectations in the team
• Providing clarification of procedures and processes in the team
• Changing the perspective between self-perception and external perception
• Sensitizations and refurbishment of cultural differences
• Development of skills, how to use all available resources in the team

Big focus is on case based studies in HEMS situations. Based on these real life situations, the training content is teached and discussed.
Thus, the direct connection to the relevance shall be made for the own workaday life.

The group of participants at the Aeromedical CRM training should consist to equal parts of all professions in the HEMS team (pilot, emergency physician, HEMS crewmember). In addition, there will be a mix of participants and trainers among the European HEMS operators.

The trainer team is put together by at least two trainers from different professional groups, whereas at least one of these two must be an approved CRM trainer by the national aviation authority. There is an existing European trainer pool for Aeromedical CRM trainings. So trainer exchange is possible and supported.

The working group has compiled a training syllabus and a standard catalogue for Aeromedical CRM trainings, which is valid as a minimal requirement for trainings to be acknowledged by EHAC.

Tasks

At least to times a year, the EHAC working group meetings take place to plan and coordinate the activities and share experience. The tasks of the Aeromedical CRM working group are manifold and contain for example:

• Planning and Performance of Aeromedical CRM trainings, as well as education and training for trainers
• improvement of the Aeromedical CRM training concept
• Preparations from legal determinations in connection with Aeromedical CRM
• Development of standards
• Cooperation with other EHAC working groups
• Consultation of new partners

With creation of an European “EHAC virtual training centre” the organizational conditions shall be created to tackle this tasks and to pull forward the Aeromedical CRM program.

Members

Working Group Aeromedical CRM

Bernd LANG (Christophorus Flugrettungsverein, AUT
Matthias RUPPERT (ADAC Luftrettung GmbH, GER)
Tim JUNK (Luxembourg Air Rescue, LUX)
Walter SCHNEIBEL (Schweizer Rettungsflugwacht REGA, SWI)
Bram SCHRIJVER (ANWB, NED)

Trainer Aeromedical CRM

Maximilian WEIERMAYER (Christophorus Flugrettungsverein, AUT)
Martin GOLLER (ADAC Luftrettung GmbH, GER)
Ralf BLOMEYER (ADAC Luftrettung GmbH, GER)
Peter Gloger (ADAC Luftrettung GmbH, GER)
Elisabeth HÄNNI (Schweizer Rettungsflugwacht REGA, SWI)
Oliver JUNG (ANWB, NED),
Perjan DIRVEN (ANWB, NED)
Bert URBAN (Institut für Notfallmedizin und Medizinmanagement, GER)

Mag. (FH) Bernd LANG
Chairman of EHAC Working Group Aeromedical CRM
Head of AirRescueCollege
Christophorus Flugrettungsverein

Schubertring 1-3
1010 Wien
Austria

Tel.: +43 1 71199 1519
Fax: +43 1 71199 201519

E-Mail: bernd.lang@ehac.eu