Pronovost

Dr. Pronovost's current crusade is preventing deadly bloodstream infections linked to central lines or catheters used in intensive-care units.

The Secret to Fighting Infections Laura Landro 2011

How was it possible that Pronovost needed to beg hospitals to adopt an essentially cost-free idea that saved so many lives?

How American Health Care Killed My Father 2009

Books recently published by Harvard's Dr. Atul Gawande (The Checklist Manifesto) and Johns Hopkins's Dr. Peter Pronovost (Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals) are calling on doctors and hospitals to institute checklists modeled on the aviation industry to improve safety.

Do No Harm 2010

Dr. Pronovost's boyish appearance and enthusiastic manner belie a steely determination to challenge the status quo in medicine.

The Secret to Fighting Infections Laura Landro 2011

In 2001 Pronovost created a five-point central-line checklist — boiled down from the CDC's lengthy guidelines — which includes washing hands and removing catheters when they're no longer needed.

Do No Harm 2010

"What underlies it is arrogance," says Pronovost, an anesthesiologist and director of Hopkins's Quality and Safety Research Group.

Do No Harm 2010

"This patient," Pronovost writes, "could have died from ignorance and arrogance — a lethal combination."

Do No Harm 2010

When Pronovost asks nurses if they'd speak up if a senior physician isn't complying with the checklist, "I am uniformly laughed at," he says.

Do No Harm 2010

"For decades, harm has been viewed as inevitable rather than preventable," says Pronovost.

Do No Harm 2010

As medical director for Johns Hopkins University's Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care, Peter Pronovost , 46, has spent most of his career as a champion of innovative but practical solutions to fix system flaws that can lead to deadly mistakes and complications in hospitals.

The Secret to Fighting Infections Laura Landro 2011