Great Saves, Great Failures: The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right

Atul Gawande Profile Books, 2011 PB, 224pp, £8.99, 978-1846683145 This book is for anyone who believes in the importance of checklists for the smooth running of organisations. The author, a surgeon himself, opens by discussing the banter that goes on between surgeons on their ‘great saves’ and ‘great failures’. He ponders on why we fail in the medical world; we simply lack full understanding or either fail to apply our knowledge. Knowledge and technical sophistication have increased but what of our ability to …