Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
    The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
    The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

    Written by Atul Gawande

    Narrated by John Bedford Lloyd

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The New York Times bestselling author of Being Mortal and Complications reveals the surprising power of the ordinary checklist

    We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies—neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third.

    In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from homeland security to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.

    An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateDec 22, 2009
    ISBN9781427208996
    The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
    Author

    Atul Gawande

    Atul Gawande is the author of three previous bestselling books: Complications, a finalist for the National Book Award; Better, selected by Amazon.com as one of the ten best books of 2007; and The Checklist Manifesto. His current book, Being Mortal, was a New York Times Bestseller. He is also a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for the New Yorker, and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He has won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, a MacArthur Fellowship, and two National Magazine Awards. In 2014, he delivered the BBC Reith Lectures. In his work in public health, he is director of Ariadne Labs, a joint centre for health system innovation, and chairman of Lifebox, a nonprofit organisation making surgery safer globally. He and his wife have three children and live in Newton, Massachusetts.

    More audiobooks from Atul Gawande

    Related to The Checklist Manifesto

    Related audiobooks

    Medical For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • UNLIMITED

      Life’s Too Short

      Jul 29, 2019

      Life’s Too Short
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      I Need Science

      Mar 1, 2018

      SITTING IN the radiation oncology clinic exam room with me was Mr. N, sixty-three years old, who until the previous month had worked full-time as a county judge. Dressed in wrinkled khaki pants, sneakers, and a faded blue T-shirt, he presented a cont

      14 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Opinion: Liquid Biopsy Research Should Include The Perspectives Of Patients Like Me

      Mar 18, 2019

      I'm a rational, level-headed patient advocate. But I lost it when facing a biopsy for my own #cancer diagnosis. A #liquidbiopsy would have helped.

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Heart In The Right Place

      Oct 15, 2021

      Heart In The Right Place
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A Dance With Death

      Mar 16, 2021

      FIFTY YEARS AGO—at the beginning of Dr Bruce Greyson’s distinguished career as a psychiatrist and academic—a student called Holly was brought into the emergency room, having taken an overdose. As she lay unconscious and on the brink of death, Greyson

      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      BREATHING IN Faith

      Jun 26, 2018

      BREATHING IN Faith
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      On The Mend

      Jul 26, 2022

      On The Mend
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      One Heart After Another

      Aug 25, 2022

      One Heart After Another
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Medical Bag

      Nov 28, 2024

      Medical Bag
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A Cardiologist’s 9/11 Story

      Sep 13, 2018

      The morgue was inside Brooks Brothers. I was standing at the corner of Church and Dey, right next to the rubble of the World Trade Center, when a policeman shouted that doctors were needed at the menswear emporium inside the building at One Liberty P

      14 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      My Contraception Was Deadly

      Dec 28, 2023

      My Contraception Was Deadly
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Your Wellbeing

      May 1, 2024

      It happens suddenly and doesn’t go away, and can spread to either arm or your neck, jaw, back or stomach. Other signs include tightness, heaviness or a burning indigestion-like pain. Being sweaty, lightheaded or short of breath are other possible sy

      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Opinion: The Day I ‘Declared Myself’ — And Was In Surgery Just Hours Later

      Nov 22, 2019

      Physicians are indoctrinated into a culture of hubris and imbued with a sense of invincibility, and we rationalize away medical problems in ourselves. That's what I did during my ectopic…

      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Facing My Fate

      Apr 16, 2020

      Stephen Aldworth, 33, Poole Crawling into bed, I tried to be as quiet as possible. It was the middle of the night, and I’d just spent ages sat on the loo. I didn’t want to wake my husband, but it was no use. ‘You OK?’ Daniel, 36, asked. ‘It’s happe

      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      I Am Al’s Lymphoma

      Oct 7, 2022

      More specifically, I am Al’s Primary Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma. Even more specifically, I’m Al’s Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. Or, you could just call me Cancer, but you’re better off not calling me at all, and hoping that I never call you. Al is f

      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      CPR Can Be Lifesaving For Some, Futile For Others. Here's What Makes The Difference

      Dec 12, 2023

      If someone young and healthy collapses, the treatment is a no-brainer. As we age or suffer serious health problems, there may come a point where it would do more harm than good.

      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A Cyst Bigger Than Twins!

      Apr 8, 2022

      A Cyst Bigger Than Twins!
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Dawn Harper Ask The Doctor

      Aug 3, 2021

      Q Recently, I had a funny turn and was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. I have been discharged from hospital on a cocktail of medicines including blood thinners. I understand that I need to stay on the medicines, but is it necessary for me to cont

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Bill Bryson's Latest Is A Different Kind Of Journey — Into 'The Body'

      Oct 14, 2019

      Bryson is beloved for his travel writing, but in his new book he's undertaking an interior journey, looking at everything from medical oddities to the amazing way your body fights off most cancers.

      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Change Of Heart

      Jun 14, 2023

      Change Of Heart
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Checklist Manifesto

    4.5/5

    341 ratings59 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a fantastic insight into how the checklist came about and influences many different professions. It is highly recommended for entrepreneurs and leaders, as it provides great insight on why checklists are such a wonderful tool in our lives. The book shares many amazing stories of where the use of a checklist made all the difference, and it is quite remarkable that such a simple tool can make the difference between life and death. Overall, it is a well-written and narrated book that is worth the time to read or listen to.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Thought this might be a bit dry but it was interesting. Anyone interested in process analysis, process control or systems management should read this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Fascinating. Gawande is just a great writer, to start with, connects practice and theory really well. Walks through the problem of medical errors, especially in surgery, and then connects it to other fields handling complex decision-making: flying and construction in particular. I want to put this stuff to work in my professional and personal life.

      [ed, 4/2/2011: I realized on Friday that I already do some of this. I was updating Drupal on my work site, and I have a very clear checklist that I've refined over the last year, so that I don't leave out any crucial steps. I often find that I would have forgotten something, either in back up or in the actual order of updating, too! Checklists FTW.]
    • 3/5
      This book was recommended on the Freakonomics blog (I think) so I decided to check it out. The author, a surgeon, explores how simple checklists at critical points can have dramatic effects on the outcome of complex processes. Although it dragged at times, overall I found it fascinating. All my pilot friends will definitely enjoy the discussion of how aviation embraced checklists and how new ones are developed and tested.
    • 5/5
      The title didn't grab me, but I'm glad I trusted the reviews. Fantastic insight into how the checklist came about and influences many different professions
      Highly recommend!
    • 5/5
      Attention high performers & leaders! Enthralling & important. Must Read!
    • 5/5
      Great insight on why checklists are such a wonderful tool in our lives!! I’m convinced!!:)
    • 5/5
      Interesting read filled with practical knowledge ordinary people can use
    • 3/5
      The book could have been condensed. Basically, it's important to have a checklist as it will prevent major errors from happening.
    • 5/5
      Great read with lots of real stories that keep you engaged! Tons of wise words that make me want to implement checklists into my own field. Highly recommend for any profession!!
    • 5/5
      This is a great book. It doesn't tell you how to write a checklist, rather it shares many amazing stories of where the use of a checklist made all the difference. It is quite remarkable that such a simple tool can make the difference between life and death.
    • 5/5
      This was a fascinating read, a real page-turner which I've already shared with others, who were equally excited about it. The idea is absurdly simple, and that's exactly why it gets ignored. People think anything that easy and obvious cannot possibly be useful. Dr. Gawande builds his case with care, providing powerful, far-reaching and riveting stories of this tool at work in the worlds of medicine, aviation, and construction. He also provides guidance for taking the idea home and building one's own effective checklists. The idea may be simple but there is a science to using it properly! Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      As a former transactional attorney, I was trained to use checklists. The transactions were too complicated to keep track of everything in my head. I also needed to communicate with the rest of the transaction team. In The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande approaches checklists from the perspective of a surgeon.I had put off reading this book because I’m already a fan of checklists. I didn’t need to be sold on their effectiveness. But I was still floored by the effectiveness Gawande reported in his studies.In using a checklist for placing a central line, the ten-day infection rate was reduced from 11% to zero. He cites many other examples and studies that show that checklists can improve the performance of highly-trained workers.“In a complex environment, experts are up against two main difficulties. The first is the fallibility of human memory and attention, especially when it comes to mundane, routine matters that are easily overlooked under the strain of more pressing events…. A further difficulty, just as insidious, is that people can lull themselves into skipping steps even when they remember them. In complex processes, after all, certain steps don’t always matter.”I was particularly happy to see Gawande cite the correct story about Van Halen’s use of M&M’s as a compliance checklist tool. (See my prior post: Compliance Van Halen and Brown M&M’s.)If you haven’t already read The Checklist Manifesto you should add it to your reading list.
    • 4/5
      I agree with some of the lukewarm reviews. I found the perfect description in another review: "gladwellian". a bit disappointed with its (lack of) depth.
    • 3/5
      A worthwhile, thought-provoking book even for those not in any of the health care fields
    • 3/5
      Atul Gawande is a surgeon who has written this book about checklists but it is not a book on how to make checklists for shopping lists or planning weddings nor is it a book about productivity. This is a book on using checklists as a tool to deal with modern technology's extreme complexity to avoid disasters and death.This came to the forefront with the development of the B-17 Bomber in the 1930's. The plane was very complex and difficult to fly under the best of conditions. When things went wrong pilots made very obvious mistakes that led to crashes. In response Boeing developed very simple checklists that when used cut down on the number of crashes considerably.He also talks about modern buildings. The incidence of failure of high rise buildings has been ridiculously low. Much of that is because of the use of checklists during the design and construction of the buildings. Everybody knows that know one person can think of everything in such a project so they depend on codes and lists in order to ensure the safety of the buildings.Dr. Gawande really blasts his fellow doctors for being so resistant to standards of care and checklists for even the simplest of procedures. Standards and checklists that have been proven to work if followed. The problem is the ego of many doctors to hand power briefly over to somebody else for the briefest of times in order to make sure that the procedure is to be done.The problem, as almost everyone who has ever dealt with the medical profession knows, is that doctors are treated like royalty and everyone else, nurses, technicians, and other highly educated, trained, and experienced professionals and especially the patients, are there at the doctor's bidding. I asked a nurse last year when a family member was hospitalized what her number one problem was in her job. She said that, besides the workload, trying to explain to patients and their family members that she couldn't tell them anything about test results or treatment plans or anything else. They had to wait for the doctor to tell them that and then telling the patients that she had no idea when the doctor was coming by, that in fact he or she was going to come by when they pleased and not a minute before. Further, they could page or call him or her till the cows come home and it would not do any good. She said that the whole floor of the hospital was full of people wondering and waiting when the doctor was going to come.She said it as pretty frustrating. I think that there has to be a better way.What do you think?Oh yeah, I rate this book 2.5 stars out of 4. I mean its a good book but it is still only about checklists. At least it was short. But really, isn't 200 pages like a graduate degree in checklists?
    • 4/5
      Great examples across multiple industries about how using checklists can avert failure.
    • 4/5
      Interesting read. The author gives good examples of how checklists have helped humans manage complex problems. Examples are given in a number of professions - construction, medical, aviation, and finance. He also explores why it is so difficult to have professionals adopt a clearly effective strategy in their work.
    • 5/5
      Yet another fascinating book by Atul Gawande. This one is more than just a series of stories about medicine. Gawande explores the idea of using checklists in medicine and whether that would cut down on the kinds of mistakes that kill and injure thousands of patients every year. He suggests that it is not ignorance of doctors or nurses, but that medicine has become so complicated that it is impossible for anyone to remember everything, especially the mundane details that end up being so important. He goes into detail on the constructionn/architecture field and how they have used checklists. He also looks at aviation and used their checklists to guide his formulation of surgery checklists since their time constraints are similar. There is a very interesting chapter on the landing on the Hudson at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to just about anyone who likes to read and has ever used a medical facility.I grabbed this book for free from the publishers booth at ALA Midwinter mostly because I've read his other books and loved them.
    • 4/5
      This is an engaging and inspiring book. In essence, Gawande argues that the medical profession, and certain other professions, adopt the use of checklists, as is the norm in aviation and construction. But Gawande, who writes regularly for The New Yorker, is a great story-teller, and it's hard to put this book down.The term "checklist" is just slightly misleading - or oversimplifying. The checklist is merely the instrument that ensures that critical procedures are identified and are properly followed. So this book is as much about procedures as it is about checklists, and in that way it is powerful in a great many contexts.I'm a big fan of David Allen's Getting Things Done (or "GTD") approach to task management. Gawande's ideas do not cover quite the same ground, but it's a similar kind of strategy: why try to keep a ton of things in your head when the right system allows you simply to focus on the task at hand, knowing that everything else is taken care of? Gawande declares that the age of the "Master Builder" -- the solitary genius, the inspired artiste -- is over, and that the complexity of almost any task today requires a different approach -- usually a team of experts working together. He makes a strong case for checklists -- and the whole systematic approach to managing complexity that they represent -- as the tool that's needed in today's world.
    • 5/5
      Although Gawande uses his experiences as a surgeon to highlight the importance of checklists, his findings can be translated into any type of work. One of my favorite quotes:"The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely, or reliably. Knowledge has both saved us and burdened us."He suggests that checklists encourage both teamwork and discipline.Another interesting takeaway: "We don't look for the patterns of our recurrent mistakes or devise and refine potential solutions for them." He suggests that if we do so and incorporate our solutions into our checklists, we will reduce errors and increase efficiency, no matter what our profession.Gawande's final example of how the checklist possibly changed an outcome is the safe landing of the flight in the Hudson in January 2009. The details are fascinating.I enjoyed this short, readable book. By developing my own checklists, I am sure that it will have impact.
    • 5/5
      What do airline pilots, good operating hospitals, builders of skyscrapers, and rocker David Lee Roth have in common? It's a checklist.When surgeon Atul Gawande presented the idea of this checklist tohospitals his ideas, at first, were brushed aside as more work, butas time went on and with astonishing results, he was vindicated andmore and more hospitals have added this to their surgery theaters.In this excellent book, he ties all this together in an interestingway. I'm not a fan of books on hospitals, but there is so much moreof interest that most everyone will learn and be entertained byThe Checklist Manifesto.
    • 4/5
      This book was a quick-and-easy read. It focused on the use and potential of simple checklists in a variety of fields. These fields ranged from medicine (primarily surgery), aviation, finance, and construction. The stories were good and inspiring, but the book comes up short on the "how-to". Despite the simplicity of the end product, it was clear that developing a *good* checklist requires much more than writing down a set of steps. Maybe a checklist for creating a good checklist is in order.
    • 4/5
      This book is an interesting collection of anecdotes about how the humble checklist is essential for maintaining professionalism in a world where the sheer wealth of information and knowledge far exceeds what any one person can learn and implement on their own. As the division of labour has lead to ever more specialists, the success of any given project, from building a skyscraper to performing a surgical operation, relies on the consistant implementation of one's own specialist knowledge but also on good teamwork and effective communication. When I started reading this book I was expecting more practical advice. I found the chapter about how a skyscaper is built, and built so that they never fall down, fascinating. It also showed that devising an effective checklist itself requires expertise, teamwork and trial and error. Atul Gawande effectively demonstrates the importance of communication and discipline in getting things right. One of the most interesting parts of the book was when Atul Gawande discussed the emergency landing of the US Airways flight 1549 into the Hudson river. It was a good example of humanity's need for hero worship and I had accepted without question the news reports that the passengers were simply lucky to have a pilot who used to fly for the Air Force. The fact that no-one died is still incredible, it's just that the reason for this had little to do with Sullenberger's military history (as he himself kept saying) and much to do with the discipline of all the staff who followed procedures correctly (with help from checklists), computer assisted landing, training and experience from both pilots who communicated with each other and the cabin crew; and of course a little luck.
    • 2/5
      Atul Gawande has knack of writing good medical narraitves and those are only parts which carry this book. Premise - that checklists are useful in all kind of complex tasks - isn't bad but there only so much one can write on such a simple subject. Author does a good job of it and it's a light easy read. However from the idea point of view, well, a paragraph would have sufficed. Rest is mere evidence. Further, examples of real checklists, the meat of the book, was obvious miss.
    • 4/5
      The author takes an interesting journey through the development of checklists in medicine, commercial aircraft flight, and building construction. My thoughts about checklists before reading the book was that they needed to be comprehensive lists of tasks that are used to turn off your brain and make outcomes more consistent. Dr. Gawande, though, leads us through the development of a World Health Organization checklist for reducing surgery complications. At first, the developers try to make a comprehensive list of tasks, but in practice it is viewed as unwieldy and unusable. We then learn that checklists are best used as points to synchronize communication and prompt for the most important and most often overlooked tasks.Read this book through to the end. If you get half way and you think it is slowing and starting to repeat itself, keep going...there are more insights to be gained by reading through the whole book.
    • 4/5
      Great book, In showing how using a checklist can make the difference between success and failure. Must be on every entrpreneur reading list
    • 4/5
      At first glance the story of the creation of pre-surgical checklists to avoid frequent complications, surgeon and writer Gawande persuades us that one way to cope with complexity and specialization is to create the expert checklist. This idea of the checklist is not the exhaustive list of someone who is just learning or who has a poor memory. No, this idea is that we need more spare, whittled down lists, and that they should be weighted towards the few simple but high-impact things that we might be liable to forget among all our specialized tasks, plus items to get us to work better together: to meet our teammates and to share our specialized and context-specific knowledge. As always, Gawande gives a quick and pleasurable read.
    • 4/5
      A very simple idea illustrated with some decent anecdotes. Gawande presents a convincing case for the checklist as an answer to the increasing complexity of fields such as medicine, engineering and finance.
    • 4/5
      The author who a surgeon in the Boston area and a professor at Harvard, proposes that professionals in critical situations use the simple checklist to verify that all important items easily overlooked are actually completed. Using the checklist allows teams to work together most effectively and not miss anything. Checklists have for some time been an important tool in aviation and building; the author proposes using checklists in surgery to ensure that no mistakes are made and infections are avoided. Impressive results are found with lives saved and complications avoided. This leads to the proposal that checklists can be an important tool in many other arenas of expertise. This is a great book and recommended for anyone who strives for excellence.
    • 4/5
      Intriguing research and well-written. I learned a lot. It does feel a little long by the end, however.