Checklists comprise an important part of the perfusionist’s clinical practice. How many times have we forgotten important steps before setting up or priming, especially when we are in a hurry? The Agency for Healthcare Safety and Quality (AHRQ) defines a checklist as “an algorithmic listing of actions to be performed in a given clinical setting, the goal being to ensure that no step will be forgotten”. Checklists are said to improve quality of care –

E.g.: Surgeons experienced 50% fewer positioning errors when dealing with laparoscopic equipment when they used checklists.

We can all agree that checklists have been a lifesaver as we progress in our perfusion practice journey.
Or is it? Can we take steps to improve the utilization of checklists in our field?