Checklists Save Lives...
… and cut malpractice claims. So read a recent headline out of Reuters. The article highlighted a study published recently in the Annals of Surgery which examined a checklist system used in the Netherlands. The authors found that many of the medical errors exposed by lawsuits were related directly to items covered by their checklist system. They felt that many of these error claims could have been avoided if a similar checklist was in place for those episodes of care.
Atul Gawande, famous surgeon, patient safety advocate, and best-selling author of The Checklist Manifesto agrees. Gawande of the Harvard School of Public Health has been pushing for the worldwide adoption of checklists throughout all walks of medical care as a simple, cost effective means of reducing medical errors and enhancing patient care.
Malcolm Gladwell had this to say about Gawande’s book: …
