Connections to Health - The biggest innovation in medicine since 1816...?

THE ISHTA HOLISTIC HEALTH CENTRE

CONNECTIONS to HEALTH

The biggest innovation in medicine since 1816...?
(by Ray Collins of the Good Life Letter)

Here's a story which caught my eye the other day, but for all the wrong reasons. In fact, I couldn't believe what I was reading.
According to The Independent, a surgical revolution is about to take place - something that involves the biggest innovation in medicine since the invention of the stethoscope in 1816.
This innovation could save thousands of lives in the UK every year...
It could prevent hundreds of operations from going wrong...
And it won't cost a penny to put in place.

WOW!
Doesn't this sound fantastic! What on earth could this huge leap forward be?
Maybe they'd invented a robot that could perform 100 perfect operations at once.
Maybe they'd invented a scanner like Bones in Star Trek had; something that could diagnose the exact problem and how to deal with it.
My mind was racing as I turned the page to find out what sci-fi marvel was here to save us all.
And this is what I read...

Ladies and Gentlemen - behold the modern marvel of The Checklist!

Right, brace yourself... here's the NEW idea that's going to prevent thousands of deaths.
Before an operation, surgeons and nurses will run through a checklist - much in the same way airport staff check over a plane before take-off - to reduce the chance that they've missed something vital.
Here are some of the 'new' checks they're going to start ticking off before surgery:

The patient must confirm his or her identity when they sign in.
The patient must say what operation they are having.
The surgeon, nurse, anaesthetist and any other hospital staff present at the operation must introduce themselves by name and role.
The above must also all verbally confirm the name of the patient they're operating on.
The nurse must check the equipment and raise any concerns.
The team must confirm what limb they are amputating or what organ they are removing, to make sure they get the right one.
Operating team to count number of swabs used during operation, and count number of swabs after operation to make sure none have been left inside the patient.
Check using clean scalpel rather than rusty saw.

All right, I made the last one up. But this checklist covers some laughably basic things.
Rather than instil confidence in me, it just makes me wonder what the heck have these people been doing BEFORE this genius checklist was suggested? Were they sitting around playing cards as the patient was wheeled in?
"Who's this?" asks the nurse, glancing up from her royal flush.
"Dunno," shrugs the surgeon, stubbing out his cigarette on his scalpel, "but I fancy doing a laparoscopic colecystectomy today. Who's in?"
Of course, I'm being totally unfair to doctors and nurses just to make my point. They do a brilliant job in what seems to be very trying conditions.
But some of the things on this checklist are so basic, I can't believe they weren't being done before. Actually what I really mean is I don't WANT to believe they weren't being done before.

Yet this checklist is being hailed as a 'major breakthrough - the biggest since the stethoscope', which makes me wonder.
I mean, if I stuck a poster up in every operating theatre saying 'No spitting, no urinating, no drinking, no leaving scissors in the patients tummy', would I be hailed as a genius?
Of course, things can go wrong during an operation. Of course accidents happen. That's the nature of things.
But this checklist is a real worry, because by admitting they need it and that it saves lives (1500 lives in 18 months according to one hospital that tried it), it just highlights how chaotic, understaffed, and overworked our brilliant doctors and nurses are.

So, the moral of this story...?
Erm, I don't think there is a moral actually. But it's made me more determined than ever to find safe, natural ways to keep us all fit, healthy and out of the surgery.

In the meantime, I'd better have a quick look at my checklist to see what else I'm doing today...

Wake up. Tick.
Have shower. Tick.
Clean teeth. Tick.
Take dog for a walk. Tick.
Put trousers on. Darn! There's always one thing...