This is the Surgeon I'd Like to Have

I got to hear another fabulous speaker and author, Atul Gawande, talk about his newest book "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right".  In this book, Gawande promotes the humble checklist as a tool for improving performance.  The aviation industry has been using this tool for years to prevent and handle air emergencies. Gawande and his team brought the idea of checklists to surgeons and intensive care units in hospitals across the world, both large and small, and after three months the results showed 36% fewer deaths after the implementation of the use of checklists.  Gawande talked about resistance that professionals often have to the use of checklists, feeling that because they are experts in their fields, they should not have to use a checklist. He pointed out that if they could prescribe at drug that would improve outcomes by 36% there would be no question - they would all be clamoring for such a drug. 

Gawande is also the author of "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance" which the library owns.  We now own a signed copy of "The Checklist Manifesto" too!