Read the checklist yourself before you allow the quacks to cut on you. If they don't want to use a checklist, fire 'em!

Docs need to realize they are not artists and what they do should not be "Practice". Practice is what you do before the game. Follow the guidelines and the cookbooks

There was a study proposed here in this country to study the use of checklists (very similar to what pilots use) in both surgery and treatment. The proposal was peer-reviewed and received pilot funding from the NIH. When the pilot data proved incredibly indicative that this would help a great deal, a much larger study was proposed, based on the pilot data, and was also NIH funded. But the AMA and JCAH (the AMA for hospitals kinda) so violently opposed the study that it became impossible to recruit either physicians or hospitals to participate.

So the studies were done in Europe where malpractice rates are hugely lower. And the checklists helped a great deal. When you talk about using them here, tens of thousands of lives a year would be saved. You have to realize that medical malpractice is the fifth leading cause of death in this country and not even in the top ten in any other country in the world.

But physicians are dead set against the mandated use of checklists. I had a knee replacement to my right knee last December. My surgeon went ballistic when he discovered that I had written "Do Not Operate On This Knee: with a Sharpie on my left knee. He did not see the need and found it extremely insulting. It is this sort of arrogance that will prevent checklists from being used here.

There is an article elsewhere on MSNBC about a surgeon apologizing to a woman on whom he had performed the wrong surgery. Studies have shown that just a simple apology by a physician can reduce his chances of a punitive lawsuit by over 80%. But that error would not have happened if he had been using a checklist.

And by checklists these people are talking about extremely complex branching checklists that are very much like those pilots use. Different checklists would be used in different parts of a procedure and there would be checklists to be used for any foreseeable problem.

When you are dealing with complex systems (and most medical procedures are solidly in that category) then the human mind starts to become an obstacle, especially when dealing with something that has been done numerous times before. There is only so much that even the smartest human can hold in functional memory and act upon. A checklist is a way of strengthening the weakest link in dealing with complex systems.

Checklists will help, but for those inept and uncaring medical personnel that are maiming and killing their patients will just continue their slaughter.

After a cardiologist botched my angioplasty at Valley Hospital in Las Vegas: More than an hour later, upon reaching the OR with my heart still, I was transfused with 2 units of Aneg. The problem is that I am Bpos. Five medical personnel signed off on this (according to my chart). The thing that also was interesting is that these 2 units were due to expire that day. After 6 days of DVTs, code 99s, and multiple pulmonary emboli, etc, they installed a vena cave filter. These transfusions resulted in a long and very eventful hospital stay with intensive rehab. I am still suffering to this day. Understand this: There are both very good and very bad medical practitioners just as with any other field of expertise. But, as in my case, five highly trained medical practioners failed to check the transfusion orders (check lists) before signing off on them. Just please, those of you that are medical personnel, care enough for your patient to double check your work and orders.to make sure you do not do more evil than good.



What a concept!! Airplane pilots do this on every flight to make sure nothing is missed. Heck, I watched my Honda dealer change the oil in my new Civic. Somebody signs off when that they tighten the drain plug. The guy who put in the oil signs off after he verifies the level. I'm mortified that this is just beginning to happen in the medical industry.