>I've heard a couple of times surgeons comparing themselves to fighter pilots. The comparison is a good one, because we have figured out how to minimize the ri

>I've heard a couple of times surgeons comparing themselves to fighter pilots. The comparison is a good one, because we have figured out how to minimize the risks for fighter pilots, but doctors rebel when asked to adopt the same style of work. Before taking off, all pilots - from Cessna to A360 - go through a pre-flight checklist. No pilot is expected to remember all the things that need to be checked - we know that we can't rely on memory. We tried this before, and people died. Yet doctors only now are starting to adopt checklists, which are known to drastically reduce simple, avoidable deaths[1]. Things like rates of IV-induce infections go down to nearly zero when doctors stick to a checklist -- but many won't; the practice is met with skepticism even though it is known to work. It took a long time for doctors to start washing their hands and stop killing people that way. [1]https://khn.org/news/hospital-checklist-mainbar/ https://khn.org/news/hospital-checklist-mainbar/