Can a checklist save a life? Dr. Atul Gawande thinks so. Above, a checklist used by Skylab astronauts. (Flickr user Marcin Wichary (cc:by))
Can a checklist save a life? Dr. Atul Gawande thinks so. He talks with us about his new book, “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
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Excellent idea to use checklists. It seems nerdish, I know, and anal-retentive, but it works. And in areas like health care, we should use things that work. Gawande's article in the New Yorker on health care some months ago was one of the best things I've read on the subject; a few news sources picked up on his points, but not nearly enough - certainly not as many as picked up on S. Palin's stupid "death panel" comments. We need more informed, careful, intelligent commentary like Gawande's.
Excellent idea to use checklists. It seems nerdish, I know, and anal-retentive, but it works. And in areas like health care, we should use things that work. Gawande's article in the New Yorker on health care some months ago was one of the best things I've read on the subject; a few news sources picked up on his points, but not nearly enough - certainly not as many as picked up on S. Palin's stupid "death panel" comments. We need more informed, careful, intelligent commentary like Gawande's.
A few months back I read an article called "41 Secrets Your Doctor Would Never Share" in which various doctors confessed what they dislike about dealing with patients, and one doctor said that he hates it when a patient comes to him with a list .
Atul Gawande's check list approach is so reasonable, so simple.... and vitally needed to improve our health and health care. On the patient side, folks can learn to ask their doctors and surgeons if they have a check list, and follow it as standard protocol... a patient check list for the check list, as it were.
There are many simple, easy and inexpensive things we can all do to improve our health and health care. The check list can be at the top of the list!
Best,
Helene Fisher
Co-Founder
Say Ah!, Inc.
*Checking the Health of Health Care*