The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

SKU: 0805091742
Stock: 1000
Author: Atul Gawande
Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780805091748
ISBN: 0805091742
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2009-12-22
Release Date: 2009-12-22

Price:

$13.45

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The New York Times bestselling author of Better and Complications reveals the surprising power of the ordinary checklistWe live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies—neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third. In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds. An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right. Atul Gawande is the author of Better and Complications. He is also a MacArthur Fellow, a general surgeon at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He lives with his wife and three children in Newton, Massachusetts. Taxed with great and increasing complexity, even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy to this disquieting problem in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third. Gawande provides real testimonials in the form of riveting stories.? ? In Austria,? an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater. In Michigan, a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements to procedure and increase positive results, even under the most precarious circumstances. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds. Gawande shows how one simple idea can make a tremendous difference. The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

R. W. Phillips on 02/09/10 09:00pm

Engaging and enlightening - I've already begin constructing and editing checklists within my company and personal life - I highly, highly recommend this book. Best business book recently read.

DrJ on 02/06/10 09:00pm

I really enjoyed Dr. Gawande's book and thought it was an eye opener for the reasons why we need checklists in this modern time. He explores the use of checklists in surgery, construction, and aeronautics and lauds the value of lists in all these areas. I am a checklist fanatic myself and felt that he emphasized all the right angles as to why such tools are necessary. This book was easy to read, but sometimes, the dialogue gets very technical around surgery and anatomy terms. Not a problem if you are familiar with such things, but may be a bit heavy for those who are not.Overall, I rated this book high and felt it delivered on its promises. My only reservation in not giving it 5 stars was that I thought more energy would be spent on the checklist making process itself and this book is more of a philosophical endeavor into the benefits of making lists.

Ric on 02/06/10 09:00pm

I have great appreciation for the insight shared here and hope to put it to some use.

Gregory Tucker-Kellogg on 02/06/10 09:00pm

Gawande makes a convincing case for a well-designed checklist lowering or eliminating the dependency on individual expertise and varied circumstance. The part that impressed me most was his argument that checklists designed the right way can dynamically change team performance by dispersing power away from the central authority figure (such as a surgeon). But Gawande also has a bit of Malcolm Gladwell Disease(tm), in which he tries to make too much out of his own cleverness in everyday things. For example, he acts surprised to learn about project management methodologies such as those used in skyscraper construction, which depend heavily on checklists. I can believe those ideas have never seen the inside of an operating room, but given the bureaucracies Gawande has worked with, is project management really new to him? He sometimes has that same annoying Gladwell-esque gobsmacked narrative of "I can't believe I (and, by 'I', I mean you, Dear Reader) was too stupid to see the truth and wisdom smacking me in the head". Needless to say, Gladwell fans will love it, and for good reason: like Gladwell's writing, Gawande's is a smooth, accessible style, just enough to provoke reflection while staying attentive to the flowing text. Unlike Gladwell, his writing is never smug, and Gawande is clearly motivated by a profoundly human issue (safe surgery). I imagine there will be a host of David Allen fans (such as myself) implementing Gawande-inspired checklists among their teams.

avdrdr on 02/06/10 09:00pm

Dr. Gawande acknowledges that this book grew out of his December 10, 2007 New Yorker article, "The Checklist". I suspect that, for many readers, it would be a better use of their time and money to read the article (which is available online) rather than the book. Although the book, like Dr. Gawande's previous books, is well-written, the author's essential conclusions could easily be summarized in one page (and have been in several reviews).