Pilot: Nurses, like pilots, must have checklists

PILOTS are crazy about checklists and safety is always on top of their list before flying any aircraft, Air Niugini’s female cadet pilot, Rhoda Jane Ilave, said at the Perioperative Nurses Society conference last week.
Ilave was a guest speaker who spoke about safety checklist from a pilot’s perspective.
She told the nurses that, like her, they worked in high risk environments and were responsible for people’s lives.
She said pilots went through a certain safety checklist when they were aboard the aircraft, turn on the engine, taxiing on the runway, taking off, in flight, when descending, before landing, after landing, when parking the aircraft and after turning off the engine.
Ilave said safety was everything to them (pilots), adding that most causes of plane crashes was the result of human errors.
She said had they (pilots who crashed their planes) gone through the safety checklist before taking off, they would not have met their fate.
Conference organisers challenged the nurses to be like the pilots who were safety-conscious.
Committee member Eunice Laim announced that a standard checklist was drafted and was with the theatre management committee at the Port Moresby General Hospital.
She said once that checklist was finalised and approved, it would be used in all the hospitals.
Phyllis Davis from the International Federation of Perioperative Nurses-Australia advised the nurses to develop a check list that would be relevant to the hospital setting in the country.