This a headline online on msnbc. Duh. As a pilot I know the value of checklists. In fact, I write about this a bit in No Yelling.

The article opens like this, “Scrawl on the patient with a permanent marker to show where the surgeon should cut. Ask the person’s name to make sure you have the right patient. Count sponges to make sure you didn’t leave any inside the body. Doctors worldwide who followed a checklist of steps like these cut the death rate from surgery almost in half and complications by more than a third in a large international study of how to avoid blatant operating room mistakes.”
Here is the link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28662096

It goes on to say that using the expanded 19 item checklist can save $15 billion (with a B) if used in all US operating rooms. Really! I honestly cannot believe that this is news and I am even more incredulous that this is not already common practice. I know the value of checklists. They take pressure off because you know you will use them to catch things. Of course, I have seen a lot of really smart people, some of them pilots, who chose not to use one. Yeah, well, superior intelligence can’t help you with a power failure at 10,000 feet, which is why you use the checklist before you take off.

Mentally or on paper, a checklist is what most best of class professionals follow. I am not saying surgeons aren’t professionals. I am saying to be best of class a systematic approach is required. I know team leaders at fast food restaurants who use a checklist to insure the shift runs well and by using a written a checklist they don’t miss any steps. You get the point.

You want to perform at a higher level, use a checklist.

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