3 ms·
The fact that things are complex is the exact reason checklists exist. It forces you to go through steps and actually verify things that are easily preventable.
by NikolaeVarius 8y ago
The fact that things are complex is the exact reason checklists exist. It forces you to go through steps and actually verify things that are easily preventable.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122226184 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122226...
"How did surgeons respond to the suggestion that they should change the way they operate? Says Gawande, many were resistant at first.
"You can imagine the response" to the idea of running through a checklist before surgery, Gawande says. But when his team surveyed the doctors who used the checklist, "There was about 80 percent who thought that this was something they wanted to continue to use. But 20 percent remained strongly against it. They said, 'This is a waste of my time, I don't think it makes any difference.' And then we asked them, 'If you were to have an operation, would you want the checklist?' Ninety-four percent wanted the checklist.""
- philwelch 8y agoChecklists are great for not forgetting about things, and forgetting about things is a common source of human error (oh man, I forgot to run unit tests/recover those foreceps from the abdominal cavity/etc). It’s not sufficient, because sometimes you have to make judgment calls and creative decisions, but even then, I’d rather be free to think about that stuff without having the back of my mind worrying about some fiddly steps I may forget.
- NikolaeVarius 8y agoIt's isn't just about not forgetting about things, it's also about PROVING that you're actively doing what should be doing. The point of checklists is to massively reduce the chances that you ever have to make a "creative" decision. Thinking that checklists is a waste of time is what lets things like leaving tools inside a patient happen.