What medical advance in 2008 has been shown to reduce the rate of deaths and complications in surgery by as much as one-third?
The checklist.
The Safe Surgery Checklist is on one piece of paper. Much of the list is obvious and some of it is about communication.
First introduced by the US Air Force, checklists are used by pilots to fly sophisticated aircraft. Taking lessons from the airline industry, author and surgeon Atul Gawande was involved in the World Health Organisation’s project to introduce the Safe Surgery Checklist back in 2008. His book, The Checklist Manifesto makes a compelling case for checklists in many other fields.
The best checklists should:
- be simple, usable and systematic,
- include 5-9 items, and
- be built up through list of common mistakes.
Checklists are not intended to be detailed comprehensive guides. They should focus on the essentials and instil discipline, thereby minimising errors.
As Gawande says humans don’t really like checklists; they aren’t much fun and can be tedious. However, they are not intended to be tick box exercises but, used properly, can save lives and minimise errors.
Whilst people’s lives might not depend on financial models, they certainly can be full of errors, many of which are preventable.
Financial models need checklists too; both for quantitative checks and to check best practice.