Does Peter Pronovost really have a magic bullet to reduce hospital-acquired infections?

Probably not, but who knows? After all, his ridiculously obvious and rudimentary checklist protocol has never actually been audited and verified by an independent third party. In other words, the hospitals are simply reporting their own infection rates. Kind of like a kid writing out his own report card. Yet, the protocol and its promoter have achieved cult status.

This is the topic of my latest HND piece.

You'd think that with all the publicity he's received, Pronovost would be more than happy to have his methods tested in a scientific manner, but from all reports, he has rejected such requests. Meanwhile, he has become nothing less than a media star. Certainly, the hospital industry loves him because by adopting his protocol, they can show incredible reductions in rates of infection. And, in some cases, they can even get better reimbursement from the Feds.

Frankly, it's appalling how little critical feedback there has been, not to mention the embarrassingly fawning media coverage. Beyond the myriad confounding factors, there is one other little problem: Just because a protocol has been "adopted" does not prove that it is actually being used. Compliance with his protocol has apparently never been audited, either.

To me, it's all voodoo until proven otherwise. Read the complete article.