Checklist Manifesto! Team-Learning & Communication

“Cleared for Takeoff in the OR!”
What do surgery and flying airplanes have in common? Answer: they’re complex systems, wherein no one person can manage all the multiple events, problems, component parts. And, the way to improve the chances of success is to improve communication, in the OR and in the cockpit – or in any complex organization.

In his book Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande once again astounds with cutting-edge thinking, making connections between unexpected domains, and presenting tools for improving organizational effectiveness. I’ve blogged about his previous books, Better and Complications – and his new book is a suspenseful page-turner. Did you ever wonder what’s in those black boxes on airplanes, which are used to reconstruct mishaps during flights? Ever wonder who listens to those things and what they learn from them? Gawande is your guide – and then he applies the concepts to medicine. It’s all about learning from mistakes: how can we glean the learnings and apply them to the future?

Using Social Networks for Behavioral Change

If you’re trying to immunize people, or to implement a behavioral change, like safer sex, or reducing smoking, how do you apply the science of Social Networks if you don’t know what the network looks like?
The authors of “Connected” put it this way: It is often not possible to discern network ties in advance in a population when trying to figure out how best to immunize it. (pg. 133)
So they asked a number of random people to name their acquaintances – and then immunized those acquaintances. Turns out that the people who have many network links are more likely to be nominated as acquaintances, as opposed to those with few links. So the people who were nominated by the randomly selected people are more likely to be near the hub than the randomly selected people! Brilliant! Can’t wait for an opportunity to apply this (smile).