Oops! Why Things Go Wrong: Understanding and Controlling Error pdf Oops! Why Things Go Wrong: Understanding and Controlling Error Finally, don’t despair – what seems awful at the time, can be something to laugh about or make for a really good story years later! Find out more I was sitting at the nurses’ station on a ward in a major Belfast hospital. The bed closest to me had the curtains pulled. The ‘crash’ team had just left and behind the curtains was an elderly lady who had just died from irrecoverable cardiac failure, precipitated by me prescribing her more intravenous fluids than her ailing heart was apparently able to handle. I had just killed my first patient! Niall has spent his entire career studying human error, initially as a surgeon in training and in the last number of years as an airline captain. It is critical that such knowledge and training is adopted in the health service to reduce the risk and impact of error and to ensure that a just culture exists to prevent problems in the future. This book is a vital part of the armoury required.’– Professor Mark A. Taylor, Consultant General and Hepato-Biliary Surgeon

Captain Niall Downey originally qualified in medicine, training in cardiothoracic surgery, before deciding to change career for commercial aviation. In this great new book, Niall shares his unique expertise and insight from both professions to help healthcare colleagues learn how to reduce their chance of medical error.’– Professor Peter Brennan, Consultant Oral & Maxillo-Facial Surgeon This dichotomy is the essence of what I explore in my book, Oops! Why Things Go Wrong. The mismatch between the fast-paced environment and our inability to respond appropriately results in errors inevitably occurring. This is merely an inconvenience in many areas, but in safety critical industries such as aviation and healthcare it can literally mean life or death. Designed for authors and illustrators across all genres and markets, it is relevant for those looking for a traditional, hybrid or self-publishing route to publication; writers of fiction and non-fiction, poets and playwrights, writers for TV, radio and videogames. Inside every mistake, there are lessons waiting to get out,” says Dr Peter Honey, who helps companies and employees work better. With success, he says, people tend to celebrate when things go well without always understanding why. With mistakes, people are more likely to work out why things go wrong so they can avoid the same thing happening again. “The good thing about all mistakes, large or small, is that they provide superb learning opportunities.” Move on So begins this pioneering book by Niall Downey – a cardio-thoracic surgeon who retrained to become a commercial airline pilot – where he uses his expertise in medicine and aviation to explore the critical issue of managing human error. With further examples from business, politics, sport, technology, education and other fields, Downey makes a powerful case that by following some clear guidelines any organisation can greatly reduce the incidence and impact of making serious mistakes.Society’s development has accelerated at warp speed over recent decades and shows no signs of slowing down. Unfortunately, our brains have had trouble keeping up and are trying to function in a highly complex, rapidly changing environment while still running on caveman software! If you want to find a literary or illustration agent or publisher, would like to self-publish or crowdfund your creative idea then this Yearbook will help you. As well as sections on publishers and agents, newspapers and magazines, illustration and photography, theatre and screen, there is a wealth of detail on the legal and financial aspects of being a writer or illustrator. Niall Downey is perhaps the only person in the world who could write this important new book . . . an owner's manual on how to work, live and play safer by knowing how and why errors happen.’– Dr Brian Goldman, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, and author of The Secret Language of Doctors

So begins this pioneering book by Niall Downey – a cardio-thoracic surgeon who retrained to become a commercial airline pilot – where he uses his expertise in medicine and aviation to explore the critical issue of managing human error. With further examples from business, politics, sport, technology, education and other fields, Downey makes a powerful case that by following some clear guidelines any organization can greatly reduce the incidence and impact of making serious mistakes. In this ground-breaking book, Niall Downey – a cardio-thoracic surgeon who retrained to become a commercial airline pilot – uses his expertise in medicine and aviation to explore the critical issue of managing human error. With further examples from business, politics, sport, technology, the civil service and other fields, Downey makes a powerful case that by following some clear guidelines any organisation can greatly reduce the incidence and impact of human error.The good thing about all mistakes, large or small, is that they provide superb learning opportunities,” Peter Honey Learn Includes advice from writers such as Peter James, Cathy Rentzenbrink, S.J. Watson, Kerry Hudson, and Samantha Shannon. Again, the statistics are clear: total deaths globally in commercial jet aviation in 1977 numbered about 3,000 people while figures now are less than 1,000 annually despite an almost 10-fold increase in passenger numbers. Indeed, in 2017 the number of deaths globally was zero! This is due largely to our focus on human factors since the late 1970s. Error is nothing to be ashamed of. The only way to even come close to avoiding error is to be so cautious and risk averse that we stifle innovation and, in healthcare, avoid intervention in any but the easiest of cases. Your good health The mismatch between the fast-paced environment and our inability to respond appropriately results in errors inevitably occurring.”