Beyond the Checklist: What Else Health Care Can Learn from Aviation Teamwork and Safety (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)

I have survived in flying a private plane for many decades... Found out (from this book) a lot about how I can improve my odds of lasting many more decades. I knew commercial pilots years ago who hated the changes that were happening in the airlines with CRM who were like me (old style seat-of-the-pants pilots) and only trusted themselves.They did not want to listen to input from others when decisions were to be made in the plane. They were THE CAPTAIN!Those of us who survived being "Lone Rangers" of those years got ourselves in and out of trouble several times because we knew we had to do things on our own (macho). If we knew then what we know now, several pilots from years past would still be here instead of augered into terra firma.This approach is needed in health care because I know nurses who've witnessed many critical errors in surgery, and in prescribing, that could have been avoided if they were allowed to suggest anything to the white coated autocrat. But, sadly, the heirarchy did not allow them to speak up for fear of losing their jobs.Egos have taken many lives, and it is time for that to end. Gary Null researched the safety of medical care, and wrote "Death By Medicine". He reported that medical care kills almost a million people per year and is the leading cause of death in this country. Many physicians need to become accountable instead of relying on pharmaceutical reps, hospital management, etc. to tell them what to do (and protect them if they make a mistake). An attorney I know will not even do medical malpractice cases because he said "Good luck in getting an MD to testify against another MD." It is not a "transparent" group or organization.The "standard of care" in medicine is not what should be done in so many cases! You and I have heard the stories of death and debilitation because of errors we knew were done... It is time for many doctors to refer out for other opinions with different providers, and get feedback from professionals outside their tight knit little cliques. They are dealing with people's lives, hopes, dreams, families, and friends, not just a "patient".So many doctors really care about what happens to their patients, but are shackled by the system that feeds them. Time to get back to good doctoring instead of tight business procedures. It's time for them to care enough to stand their ground and become the great doctors they can be, instead of being pawns of drug companies, management, insurance companies, and other people/things that keep them from being exemplary in their work.

I work in the hospital setting and really tried to like this book. I saw that it was written by a pilot and some health-caregivers. It also had a foreword written by "Sully" the pilot who flew the plane involved in the "Miracle on the Hudson."For the first few chapters I saw a glimmer of hope that this book would be a fair attempt to point out what is wrong in healthcare.As I delved further into the book, I saw how the authors made more and more reference to how physicians' egos are at the heart of the problem in healthcare. Gordon cites weak anecdotal stories of poor performing doctors and how they somehow should be used to represent the whole field of medicine. In addition, Gordon refers to physicians as if they are all males which is untrue. Her bias really shows through and takes away from her credibility.The authors are upset because nurses and doctors speak two different languages (this may be true because of the 2 different levels of education). And that doctors never look at the nurses charting (lie). And that the charting for nurses, colored light rose, are separate from charting for physicians, colored grey-blue (lie).The authors also complain that nurses are not allowed to write as if they have made a diagnosis in the chart and that they have to write in more descriptive style. Instead of just flattening the hierarchy, it sounds as if the authors want to rid what makes a physician different from a nurse and make them all equals in the patient care. I'd like to see a pilot delegate his expertise in flying a plane to a flight hostess when the plane is crashing (sarcasm). There is obvious minimizing of what physicians do.Throughout the book the author uses airline CRM for examples that can be used in medicine. This is where things gets tougher. Anyone who has worked in healthcare knows that the airline industry only scratches the surface of how complicated healthcare is. I've had pilots say that airline CRM to what we do is extremely challenging. To say otherwise is naive.Finally, this book ignores how patients can add to their own safety. Unlike in a commercial flight where passengers are passive customers, patients are customers who have much to gain or lose. As a clinician, I've seen a great many patients not even know who their doctors are or know what type of surgery they are having.I am rather disappointed in this book. It had the potential to really make a difference but failed. If you end up reading this book, I really suggest asking yourself what the true motive of this book is.

Great Read! The authors discuss how concepts from crew resource management can and should be applied to other fields, such as healthcare. By focusing on teamwork and communication, organizations can evolve into highly reliable entities. Thought provoking, inspriring, and sometimes funny stories along the way.

I work in the health care system and anyone who does knows it is a mess and broken. This book provides good ideas to fix current problems and work in the best interest of the patients. The problem is because there is no one governing entity for health care to enforce changes for the better we will continue working in a hierarchical system, and not in the best interest of the patients. This is a must read.

Great information in this book. This will help with organization - making sure each step in a process is taken before moving on to the next step. I work in training medical personnel and this has helped standardize procedures which ultimately improves patient safety. It can certainly work in a variety of other areas as well.

Suzanne Gordon brings her deep expertise in critical journalism to the topic of health care teams, through the lens of aviation. This book collaboration with coauthors Patrick Mendenhall and Bonnie Blair O'Connor shines new lights on some of the long-held assumptions about primacy and process in health care.

Pretty expensive book to come without the dust cover shown in the description. I buy hard back books with dust covers because I like to display them on my shelves. I am disappointed.

"Beyond the Checklist" offers well honed airline safety approaches that can and should transfer to health care to improve safety. A must read, as Gordon tackles the human factor issues in patient safety!

Great book - argument for change in healthcare so well presented. Has been very insightful and helpful for me.

Nothing special

I work in health care so the information and history of how CRM was developed is relevant. The stories of near miss and actual airline disasters and the cause for them should make all of us reflect on relationships in our own work environment. I picked up the book because the value of the book was describe in a health care conference and other health care leaders were stating it was worth the read.