The Engineer's Book Club

The Checklist Manifesto

by Atul Gawande

The author is a prominent surgeon in Boston, who is also a staff writer for the New Yorker. The simple checklist is by now familiar to everyone from watching NASA countdowns, but before 1935 the concept was unknown. Only after a fatal crash of an experimental bomber due to simple pilot error did test pilots start to make up checklists to catch the stupid stuff. Engineers since then have made routine use of checklists, but not surgeons, until Dr. Gawande conducted a trial in 2008 with 8 hospitals around the world. He found that simple surgery checklists reduced mishaps by 36% and deaths by 47%. This is a great vindication of the engineering approach and a rebuttal of the prima donna professional who thinks he's on top of everything.

Image Credit: http://gawande.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/TheChecklist-bookshot-432x550.jpg