CHECKLISTS SAVING LIVES (REVISITED).

CHECKLISTS SAVING LIVES (REVISITED). I posted here on Dr. Atul Gutwande’s argument that doctors should use checklists just as house movers, wedding planners and tax accountants do. Today there is a report on a study by Dr. Guwande which tested in a number of countries the implementation of a 19-point checklist for surgery which cut death rates for surgery by almost half. The checklist, developed by the World Health Organization, included some very basic items, such as marking the part of the body that is to be operated on and, after the surgery, making sure all sponges and instruments are accounted for. The biggest improvements were in poorer countries. The results are so dramatic that some skeptics question the statistical design (for one thing, the medical teams knew they were part of a study).