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Error Management: Lessons From Aviation Term Paper

Personal Critique and Lessons Learned from the Article:

The article was well-written with many studies to back up the findings of the usefulness of the error management system discussed. It was interesting to see so many parallels between two diverse fields of occupation.

The stress levels, risks to human life, and the importance of teamwork were highlighted examples of similarities. However, it was the differences that were the most intriguing.

Clearly aviation accidents are more highly publicized than the individual medical accidents that occur each year; yet, it was startling to learn that it is estimated that up to nearly 100,000 people die each year from medical accidents, far less than aviation accidents. Although not as highly publicized, litigation following medical accidents, in the form of malpractice suits, would lead one to believe that the medical profession would be motivated to institute the types of processes and protocols that the aviation industry has developed. However, they have not and the need for this is illustrated effectively by the author.

The lessons learned from this article are two-fold. First, there are post-accident processes and procedures in place within the aviation field. Exhaustive investigations are conducted following an aviation accident, as well as release of public reports and remedial actions, in an effort to both be privately and publicly accountable for safety...

These processes are not simply lip service to the public, but worthwhile tools for the industry to make real changes to aviation as a means of improving safety and a way to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future.
The second lesson learned was the benefit of the pro-active approach aviation takes to error management. Aviation doesn't simply sit back and wait for accidents to happen and then fix problems they have determined caused the errors; they search out ways to better understand the facets of the industry (including pilots and crew members and the environment they operate in).

Surveying pilots and crew members give greater insight to the interpersonal workings amongst team members as well as increased knowledge about the career culture of key players. Incident reports can help organizations learn about errors being made that do not necessarily result in an accident, but should still be corrected to ensure they do not further develop.

In these ways, the aviation industry not only tries to learn from their mistakes, but also tries to predict ways to prevent mistakes before they happen, which is a valuable lesson industries, such as the medical profession, could learn from.

References

Helmreich, R. "On error management: Lessons from aviation." BMJ 320 (2000, Mar 18): pp. 781-785. September 26, 2006 http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/320/7237/781?ijkey=C.kPjYhV51IB.

Sources used in this document:
References

Helmreich, R. "On error management: Lessons from aviation." BMJ 320 (2000, Mar 18): pp. 781-785. September 26, 2006 http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/320/7237/781?ijkey=C.kPjYhV51IB.
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