http://shakeoutblog.com/2009/02/18/an-iteration-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away/ Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:40:49 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://shakeoutblog.com/2009/02/18/an-iteration-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away/comment-page-1/#comment-15 19.20.21. « Shakeout’s Blog Sun, 10 May 2009 23:39:02 +0000 http://shakeoutblog.com/?p=410#comment-15 [...] Around the world, virtually every child born in a hospital had an Apgar score recorded at one minute after birth and at five minutes after birth. It quickly became clear that a baby with a terrible Apgar score at one minute could often be resuscitated—with measures like oxygen and warming—to an excellent score at five minutes. Spinal and then epidural anesthesia were found to produce babies with better scores than general anesthesia. Neonatal intensive-care units sprang into existence. Prenatal ultrasound came into use to detect problems for deliveries in advance. Fetal heart monitors became standard. Over the years, hundreds of adjustments in care were made, resulting in what’s sometimes called “the obstetrics package.” And that package has produced dramatic results. In the United States today, a full-term baby dies in just one out of five hundred childbirths, and a mother dies in one in ten thousand. If the statistics of 1940 had persisted, fifteen thousand mothers would have died last year (instead of fewer than five hundred)—and a hundred and twenty thousand newborns (instead of one-sixth that number). (Atul Gawande in the New Yorker – also a story in his incredible book, Better) [...] [...] Around the world, virtually every child born in a hospital had an Apgar score recorded at one minute after birth and at five minutes after birth. It quickly became clear that a baby with a terrible Apgar score at one minute could often be resuscitated—with measures like oxygen and warming—to an excellent score at five minutes. Spinal and then epidural anesthesia were found to produce babies with better scores than general anesthesia. Neonatal intensive-care units sprang into existence. Prenatal ultrasound came into use to detect problems for deliveries in advance. Fetal heart monitors became standard. Over the years, hundreds of adjustments in care were made, resulting in what’s sometimes called “the obstetrics package.” And that package has produced dramatic results. In the United States today, a full-term baby dies in just one out of five hundred childbirths, and a mother dies in one in ten thousand. If the statistics of 1940 had persisted, fifteen thousand mothers would have died last year (instead of fewer than five hundred)—and a hundred and twenty thousand newborns (instead of one-sixth that number). (Atul Gawande in the New Yorker – also a story in his incredible book, Better) [...]

]]> http://shakeoutblog.com/2009/02/18/an-iteration-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Unintended effects: blue lights vs heroin « Shakeout’s Blog Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:28:47 +0000 http://shakeoutblog.com/?p=410#comment-14 [...] This makes it extra important to put yourself in the shoes of your users (no pun intended) to work out what they need and iterate until you can provide it. [...] [...] This makes it extra important to put yourself in the shoes of your users (no pun intended) to work out what they need and iterate until you can provide it. [...]

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