Career
The surgeon who published his mistakes
In the 1910s, the Boston surgeon Ernest Codman counted his own errors and posted them to other hospitals, and a public row with colleagues then cost him dearly. Research and a book billed as a bestseller show what counting failure can and cannot do. This is history and research, not medical advice.
Major #22: Healthcare AdministrationThe story: Ernest Amory Codman (1910s). The book: Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed.
In this lesson
- A surgeon who kept score
- About one error for every three patients
- What the research says
- The book: Black Box Thinking
- What the evidence says about the book
- Where this comes from
- Try it today
- 4 questions to check yourself