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You’ve written a book called The Checklist Manifesto; why do we need checklists?

On the one hand they are memory aids. If you go shopping, a list doesn’t tell you about every single step you take to the grocery store, it reminds you of what you might forget. The second aspect of a checklist is that it can help you perform well when you are working with many people on a complex procedure. A surgical checklist can turn a team into a pit crew instead of the three stooges.

What gave you the idea of putting a checklist into practice in medicine?

I’ve written about fallibility in complex systems like medicine, and I’m a surgeon. The World 91É«ÇéƬ Organization asked me to work out how to reduce deaths in surgery. We have the tools – specialisation and technology. But why do we continue to fail when we have trained surgeons who have access to technology? So I started thinking that the trouble must be with complexity – the complexity of what we know exceeds an individual’s ability to deliver results correctly and safely. In other complex fields, such as aviation, they use checklists.

How do you go about writing a checklist to cover all medical procedures?

A checklist reminds everyone of the dumb stuff – have we given antibiotics or got enough blood standing by, as well as making sure that everyone introduces themselves and the surgeon communicates the plan for the operation. My research has shown that there are 10 major ways an operation can go wrong, so now I’m developing a checklist for each of them.

How did you prove that checklists work?

We got eight hospitals around the world to participate, from the richest to the poorest, and used a checklist during surgical procedures for 8000 patients for six months. In every hospital major complications were reduced by 36 per cent and the death rate was halved. In the UK this month all 167 hospital trusts will adopt checklists.

Do you use one?

I do now but initially I didn’t think I needed to. I’m at Harvard and we think we’re top of our game. But I didn’t want to look like a hypocrite. We’ve been using a checklist for two years and not a week goes by when we don’t catch a problem. It has saved patients and saved me.

Can you use checklists in your everyday life?

One of the key concepts of a checklist developed for aircraft was the pause point – before the engines are started, for instance. I’ve built pause points into my day to make sure I’ve not forgotten critical things, about patients in particular.

You have an extraordinary career: you teach, work as a surgeon, write books, run a team of 20 researchers and you’re a staff writer for The New Yorker. How do you do it?

I’ve given up on having a work-life balance. If I just did surgery I’d burn out. If I just did writing I’d go crazy, and if I just did research I’d run out of ideas.