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Atul Gawande: The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

Medical errors are commonplace, but with so much at stake and a technically-advanced field, they shouldn’t be. In his newest book, Dr. Gawande explores a wide variety of industries and finds a common mistake-deterrent: the checklist. Applying a simple checklist for surgery—is this the right patient? What are their allergies?—has been shown to dramatically reduce deaths and complications. Is the checklist the simple silver bullet for medical errors? And could it have larger implications for healthcare reform?

Guest:

Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is a staff writer for The New Yorker; he is the author “Complications,” “Better,” and most recently, “The Checklist Manifesto”