Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine
Thursday, September 9, 2010
THEODORA KALIKOW: Where were checklists, practice for disasters before they occur?
I’m back thinking today about that oil spill. It is horrible and sickening. Eleven people killed outright. A whole ecosystem destroyed. People’s lives and futures ruined. All the brave talk about fighting the disaster until it is overcome — too little, too late.
But you know what? I can’t bring myself to rant any more about it. Everybody has done that already.
I mean, I could. For instance, nobody has proposed a new slogan for BP: “Put a dead pelican in your tank.”
Never mind. I can’t stand to write it, and you don’t want to read it.
Instead, let me tell you about my operation.
This is my summer for cataract operations. I go to Franklin Memorial Hospital for pre-op screening. What is my name? What is my birthday? What am I here for?
They do an EKG. What is my name? What is my birthday?
I get sent for blood work. What is my name? What is my birthday?
I bring all my meds in. What is my name? What is my birthday?
The nice nurse looks at the labels and tells me what I have to do to be ready for the anesthesia. She gives me written instructions and makes sure I know what they mean and how to follow them. She gives me eyedrops to practice with beforehand, so that when I have to put them in for real afterwards, I know how.
And then, it’s operation day. What is my name? What is my birthday? What am I here for? Which eye is it today? They mark which eye it is. Everybody who comes to do something asks me the same questions, plus more.
These questions are part of their checklists.
Their checklists!!! I am so glad they all have checklists! The best way to reduce medical errors is not to expect doctors and nurses and other medical workers to be infallible and never make mistakes. Instead, you make sure that they check their work methodically so that they have less chance of doing something irreversibly bad.
It’s my eye today; it could be yours tomorrow. No matter how many times they ask me the same darn questions, I am grateful. I just try not to give in to the temptation to make wisecracks.
Also, at the hospital, they practice for emergencies. If I should have a heart attack in the operating room, they know what to do. If there’s a fire, they know what to do. (And they demonstrated that last year.) If there’s an epidemic, they are prepared, and they know they are — because they practiced.
At the hospital, they know that the consequences of not being prepared could be awful. A botched surgery on an important body part. An unnecessary death. A local or regional catastrophe.
OK, now to the connection. When you think of the consequences that we are now seeing in the Gulf of Mexico, Where was the checklist? Where was the emergency practice?
Apparently, the major companies that do deepwater oil drilling all plagiarized their response plans from each other and included the same dead guy as their consultant. I have not heard a lot about their up-to-date safety practices or their incessant emergency drills.
I have heard a lot of finger-pointing and a lot of blaming each other.
This is typical of institutions struck by calamities that realize too late what they needed to do to meet them. It also sounds as if federal oversight was lax, disorganized and unprincipled.
I bet the hospital accreditation associations have a better track record.
A six-month moratorium on drilling sounds to me like a good plan.
Maybe the deepwater oil companies could use the time go to their local hospitals and get a few lessons about how to behave when people’s lives are at stake.
Theodora J. Kalikow is president of the University of Maine at Farmington. She can be reached at kalikow@maine.edu
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12 COMMENTS
C-Fairer said...
THEODORA KALIKOW is the reason the education system in America is in such dire strits!
July 10, 2010 at 3:25 AM Report abuse
C-Fairer said...
Teach your students this, FORGET GOVRNMENT EDUCATION. Most of it is indoctrination and molding. Print this out, for your febbleminded superiors, and really educate the students, please.... http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/hogan3.1.1.html
July 10, 2010 at 3:41 AM Report abuse
OldTimer said...
Theodora Kalikow, along with a few others like her, is the reason one can still feel a glimmer of hope for our country and the world. C-Fairer, along with all too many others on these forums, is a perfect example of what Theodora and her thoughtful ilk are up against.
July 10, 2010 at 7:27 AM Report abuse
TiredMainer said...
They have been drilling for oil in the Gulf since approximately 1947 and this is the first major leak. Think about it. Oh, the Libs can't and won't think. I can't believe our Universities hire such people. I'm glad that i'm an alumni of Thomas College where there wasn't a hint of polital indoctrination happening(at least in the mid 1980's).
July 10, 2010 at 7:50 AM Report abuse
DuaneL said...
If only more politicians thought like Theo, this country would be better off by far. There would be plans for emergencies. Hey Theo, how about running for governor?
July 10, 2010 at 8:16 AM Report abuse
mdenis46 said...
As soon as I saw Kalikow's name, I just knew some right-winger would attack her, instead of debating her ideas. Same with Kay Rand, every time she writes, she gets personally attacked by the right wing. And they wonder why there's anger in the land? They have created a great deal of it and are now using that anger politically ... Anyone here studied the history of Germany in the early 1930s?
July 10, 2010 at 8:41 AM Report abuse
mdenis46 said...
C-Fairer, a right-wing or a Christian education is NOT indoctrination? ALL education is indoctrination? The Taliban understands that but apparently right-wingers here in the US don't, they just think that moderate or liberal education is indoctrination. Case in point, the Texas school book situation, where right-wingers and tea partiers have taken over "indoctrination" in US history textbooks from the historians. But I guess because they're right-wingers, it's OK to indoctrinate that way.
July 10, 2010 at 8:46 AM Report abuse
AKMaineiac said...
Most people wanting to know where the checklists were and why there "were no safety protocols and procedures in place" would be pretty shocked to see the safety procedures and checklists. This was a failure of epic proportions. It continues to be investigated, and assumptions can not lead to anything good. Bans, moratoriums, all sound good to everybody but those involved in actually doing the work. Been thousands of wells drilled in the gulf, and elsewhere. Let's investigate, and base our response on facts, not fear, not politics.
July 10, 2010 at 10:33 AM Report abuse
GandT said...
Theo's thinking is very relevant and in alignment with that of the book 'The Checklist Manifesto'. Preventing accidents - whether surgical, environmental or economical- benefits all of us liberals, conservatives and 'tweeners. A checklist is at minimum a time-tested efficiency measure. But who knows - could even avert a disaster. Thanks Theo for a reminder about low cost common sense.
July 10, 2010 at 10:51 AM Report abuse
crosshairs said...
I'm not a multi-million (billion) dollar company, but when things go sour, I have alternatives to put in place. [Those are akin to Theo's checklists.] We've already been informed that those checklists were largely figments of BP's imagination. Like a patient in a hospital where some wrong procedure can result in dire consequences (hence the need for alternatives/checklists), the Feds need high assurances that these are in place when tampering with the environment. That's not been the case for more years than anyone wants to admit.
July 10, 2010 at 5:47 PM Report abuse
gen81465 said...
I work at a job where checklists are required by specific regulatory agencies. I think they are a great idea, but it's getting the people who work at a place to follow them. At BP, there's strong evidence that, in the process of using a checklist, several employees noted major problems but were told to "shut up about them or lose your job". Apparently, executives were afraid some of the profit might be used to fix the problems, rather than boost their own salaries.
July 12, 2010 at 10:02 PM Report abuse
hot-tamale said...
Isn't it scary that "big Business" can say they have their checklists, in reality, it all boils down to their bottom line...money money money. Like the car companies, it is cheaper to pay out a few lawsuits than fix the problem.
July 13, 2010 at 7:18 AM Report abuse