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• Team building.
• Debriefing and feedback.
11. ASSESMENT IN AMRM TRAINING PROGRAMS. AMRM is a dynamic process that works most effectively when it is continually assessed to determine if the training is achieving its goals. Each organization should have a systematic assessment process that tracks the effects of the training program so that critical topics for recurrent training may be identified and continuous improvements may be made in all other respects. Experience has shown that AMRM training works most effectively if it is continually refreshed by subject matter that is timely, relevant, and usable. Assessment of the training program should include observation and feedback by program administrators and self-reports by participants using standard survey methods.
Developers/facilitators should use every available opportunity to highlight the importance of AMRM skills and techniques. One of the best learning opportunities occurs when air medical team members examine their own behavior and performance with the assistance of a trained facilitator. The facilitator points out both positive and negative aspects of AMRM performance.
Whenever highly effective performance is observed, it is vital that the underlying behaviors are discussed and reinforced.
a. The emphasis in this assessment process should be on all team members’ performance.
The essential areas of AMRM-related assessment include communications, decision-making, team building and maintenance, workload management, and situational awareness, always in balance with traditional technical proficiency. An additional assessment is to determine the impact of the AMRM training on organization-wide trends in team member performance.
b. For optimal assessment, data on team members’ attitudes and behavior should be collected before AMRM indoctrination and again at intervals after the last component of AMRM training, to determine both initial and enduring effects of the program. The goal should be to obtain an accurate picture of the organization’s significant corporate personality traits before formal adoption of AMRM training and to continue to monitor those traits after implementation.
c. Reinforcement and feedback are essential to effective AMRM training. Team members must receive continual reinforcement to sustain AMRM concepts. Effective reinforcement depends upon usable feedback to crewmembers on their AMRM practices and on their job function performance.
d. Usable feedback requires constant assessment. Team members and those involved in training and evaluation should be able to recognize effective and ineffective AMRM behaviors.
AMRM concepts should be critiqued during the briefing and debriefing phases of all training and checking events.
e. Summarizing the assessment process should include measurement and tracking of the organization’s corporate culture as it is reflected in attitudes and operational norms, identifying topics needing emphasis within the AMRM program, and ensuring that all team members are well prepared and standardized.
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12. SUMMARY. More and more operators in the air medical community are discovering the value of extending resource management training across organizational lines of business.
Effective AMRM begins with training the trainers. It is implemented through initial training and strengthened by recurrent practice and feedback. Each and every person on the air medical team is a resource to the air medical community. All operators and programs engaged in the provision of AMS are encouraged to include all middle and upper-level managers as well as all support staff in their training. It is sustained by annual continuous reinforcement that is part of the corporate culture and embedded in every element of the air medical team’s training. Their objective is to improve the effectiveness of all the groups within the operator’s team.
ORIGINAL SIGNED BY /s/ James J. Ballough Director, Flight Standards Service