Yossi Tal and Itzik Lichtenfeld

DISSERTATION TITLE:

Transferring the Aviation Risk Management Model (ARMM) into an Ambulatory Healthcare Organization

Tel-Aviv, Israel, May 2010

The thesis outlines the process of establishing Risk Management activities in Maccabi, in course of about ten years, while reflecting on the process and deriving specific and general insights as to the applicability of the ARMM to healthcare and organizational considerations of establishing the RMD (Risk Management Department).

In order to set the stage for discussing the issue of transferring the ARMM, issues of comparing Aviation and Medicine, transferring models, qualitative versus quantitative research, are discussed and elaborated.

The central research question was what are the implications of transferring a model, developed in one domain to another and specifically the ARMM, which was successful in reducing the amount of errors and accidents in Aviation, into the Healthcare setting (Ambulatory Healthcare Organization). The research paradigm was qualitative, based on Constructivist approach, coined as Action research. We served as consultants, aiming to assist in the development of Risk Management operation in Maccabi Healthcare Fund (The second Largest Health Fund in Israel – 1.8 million members and 3,600 physicians). The thesis is our reflection on the process, while grounding it on our experience in Aviation Risk Management.