You might think that the medical and engineering professions would operate quite differently from each other. Yet, as we will see, not only are they similar, but there is a lot that the engineering profession could and should borrow from the medical profession.

So what is it that they have in common, when it comes to work processes and quality control?

Let’s assume that an engineer’s day on a typical shop floor starts with project management, e.g., project planning, data collection, identifying requirements, clarifying queries and assumptions, performing risk and root cause analyses, testing hypotheses, taking corrective actions, and performing follow-ups and reviews.

Let’s assume that a doctor’s day in a typical out-patient department starts with taking a patient’s case history, diagnosing the problem and eliciting answers from the patient, prescribing the requisite tests, reviewing the reports, identifying root causes, prescribing the medication, administering the test dose, and performing a follow-up or review.

Now let’s look at these processes, and their implied importance, first from the doctor’s point of view and then from the engineer’s perspective.

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