BOEING'S EXPERIENCE USING CHECKLISTS IS HELPING MANY OTHER PROFESSIO

NS


KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- A heart surgery gets under way in a busy
Boston hospital. A midwife in a remote African village delivers a baby at a
primitive medical clinic. A Boeing 747 takes off at Chicago's O'Hare airport.

All these tasks-each requiring sound judgment and precise execution-reflect
the expertise of a Boeing Commercial Airplanes team and its innovative work with
checklists.

The Flight Technical & Safety group, part of Boeing Training & Flight
Services, has long worked with checklists, a concise list of tasks pilots use to
ensure critical functions are performed, even in emergency situations.

But now, the recognition that checklists can increase success whenever
critical tasks are being performed has some of the world's most vital
professions looking to Boeing as a leader in their compilation, structure and
use.

"People in other industries find that in one meeting with Boeing they can
benefit from our decades of experience," said Dan Boorman, electronic checklist
procedure manager and a Technical Fellow. "There is a trend that recognizes
checklists as a tool. A light bulb definitely has come on."


INTRODUCTION OF CHECKLIST

Along with his primary responsibilities, Boorman is the contact for
organisations outside of aviation that want to benefit from checklists.

He has worked with the FBI, the American Society of Radiation Oncologists,
Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and the Washington State Hospital
Association.

One of the most important beneficiaries of Boeing's checklist knowledge is
the World Health Organization.

Using ideas learned in part from Boorman and the Flight Technical & Safety
team, a study of eight hospitals around the world showed that major
complications for surgical patients decreased 36 percent after the introduction
of checklists.

Deaths fell by 47 percent. The World Health Organization now is creating and
distributing checklists worldwide.

"What impresses me most is that these people are really questioning how
things are done in their profession", Boorman said.

"They are not defensive. They are willing to say that they are not getting
it right".

The rationale for checklists is not an issue of aptitude, but the
realization that complex activities can overwhelm. Professionals who have skill,
knowledge and experience are making mistakes, despite their expertise. A
different strategy for overcoming failure is required.


CHECKLIST TO SAFEGUARD AGAINST ERROR

But why are checklists so effective and what differentiates a common "to do"
list from a document that can save lives?

"A good checklist is precise and lists only critical steps in a concise
way", said Erich Mahr, assistant chief pilot, Flight Technical and Safety.

"They must be easy to use even in difficult and stressful situations".

Many areas at Boeing use checklists. Commercial Airplanes' 737 Engineering,
for example, uses checklists to prevent errors within Lean manufacturing
systems.

Space and Intelligence Systems uses checklists throughout satellite
development and production to help with compliance to established processes.
Checklists used by these groups have proved they can be a substantial safeguard
against errors.

As technologies continue to advance, whether within Boeing or in other
industries, checklists can be a simple solution to help navigate complexity.

"I don't think the future will hold significant change to the concept of
checklists," Mahr said.

"Technology may change the methodology, but the principal remains the same.
It is by far the best tool to contain errors."


CREATE A VALUABLE CHECKLIST

An unexpected call to Boeing's Dan Boorman two years ago from surgeon and
author Atul Gawande started a working relationship that is helping medical
patients around the world.

Gawande had been trying unsuccessfully to implement checklists into the
operating room. Frustrated, he asked his research staff to find an expert in
aviation.

His team found Boorman's published papers on checklist technologies and
passed the information along.

By coincidence, Boorman, looking for reading material at an airport prior to
a flight, purchased Gawande's book on medical ethics.

"One day my cell phone rang and it was Atul Gawande", Boorman recalled. "He
introduced himself and I said, 'I know who you are, I just read your book".

Boorman later hosted Gawande at Boeing where he taught him about effective
pilot checklists from aboard a 777 flight simulator.

The information that Gawande gleaned from his Boeing visit helped him create
a valuable checklist for the operating room and was later published in his
best-selling book, "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right".

The author pays tribute to Boeing's Flight Technical and Safety group by
titling a chapter of his book "The Checklist Factory".

"It is a privilege to work with highly talented people from other fields
critical to humanity", Boorman said.

"It takes little time and energy, but it pays tremendous returns for all of
us".
-- BERNAMA