The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

✍️ Atul Gawande

This book is about the importance of having checklists, especially in processes where the stakes are high. Checklists became norm in aviation where it is used to avoid reflexive routines due to the repetitive nature of the job. Gawande is an enthusiast of putting the checklist as a medical routine. After all, most of medical errors can be traced to these “automatisms”. What I liked about the book are the tips to build a good checklist.

Before reading the book, I asked myself why something so common, established like a checklist deserve an entire book to be celebrated. After the read I realized that the book is also a condemnation of the tightness and hierarchical nature of the medical community. There is still a culture of fear instilled by “top of the pyramid” doctors among young physicians and nurses who are afraid of questioning decisions or warn about something that needed to be checked. It is still a sad reality in many hospitals and there is still work to do to improve the environment.