The Checklist Manifesto; Post 3

The Checklist Manifesto
By: Atul Gawande
Post 3

The final chapter of the final book (in the project) has been finished. And now, for the blogpost:

So, after seeing how effective checklists could be in preventing infection, Gawande, who had shown interest in checklists, expanded his point of view, looking at all sorts of checklists and fields in which they are used. A particularly fascinating checklist was that used for aircraft scenarios. They prevented many accidents or, at the very least, decreased the number of losses of human lives. Gawande, in correspondence with the World Health Organization, decided to create a standard surgery checklist for use in hospitals internationally. After multiple tries, test phases, revisions, and studies, an effective surgical checklist to cover general surgical procedures was released. During this time, Gawande also comments on how and why checklists are overlooked or underestimated. The experienced professionals may believe they are above using checklists, and may disregard them. It provided an interesting mix of views on checklists besides just Gawande's.

I've really enjoyed reading this book. I've felt like the concepts for checklists laid out in the book are really applicable to my own life. The checklists have been proven to help people of all levels of expertise in many different fields remember vital things, even though the checklists themselves may seem trivial or unnecessary.  I realize no also, that Atul Gawande is trying to stress the importance of checklists because everyone is susceptible to disregarding it. He himself didn't think the checklist owuld make much of a difference when he used it. "As soon as our surgery checklist (developed by him and the World Health Organization) began taking form, I began using it in my own operations... I had better be using it myself... But in my heart of hearts... did I think the checklist would make much of a difference in my cases? no. In my cases? Please," (Gawande 187). Of course, he only proved himself wrong later as the checklist helped to save him from multiple instances in which the patient was close to death.

Even Gawande, the author, was susceptible. The man who helped develop the checklist in the first place. The importance of this message is that everyone has the "ability" to disregard the checklist, making it all the more important. I see this in myself, too. My dad would always tell me to write down my homework and check it off as I complete it. I would often disregard it though, stating "I'll remember." After reading this book... I'll probably still do it sometimes, but I now have a respect for the simple checklist, and all it can do.

Until next time(?),
Josh C.