Dr. Dan Low is an anesthesiologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, an associate professor at the University of Washington, and co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of AdaptX. He has advised on safety and teamwork for the Navy and commercial aviation. I asked him what healthcare can learn from aviation.
Lessons from the cockpit
Dan starts with complex adaptive systems and what the cockpit has taught medicine. We talk about The Checklist Manifesto and how to put checklists to work. Flattening the hierarchy and putting the bottom line up front both improve information flow.
Toyota in the hospital
Distributed leadership works in a hospital too. Dan explains how the Toyota Production System applies to patient safety. Human factors and human performance shape outcomes, and people often resist change. Standard work makes a system more robust.
Measuring what matters
Dan covers speed and quality of care and how to measure healthcare outcomes. Team situational awareness and psychological safety matter. Behavioral markers can measure team performance, and data can drive a whole organization, with luck playing its part in outcomes.
Healthcare teams need shared orientation as much as flight crews do, and Dan has spent his career building it.
What is the one checklist your team relies on most?
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