Checklists have been used increasingly in a number of fields especially by the aviation industry in order to increase communication between the pilot and co-pilot, and thereby decrease errors which in the past if over looked could potentially lead to a disaster. This approach was employed in the organic chemistry laboratory course to evaluate the frequency of errors made by those students without a checklist, and compared to those who were provided with one. The data in this work indicates that those without a checklist were prone to make more errors during various steps in the synthesis, and as a result have reduced yields of the desired material along with greater amount(s) of unreacted starting material compared to those with checklists. Additionally, those without checklists asked more questions about the procedure during their laboratory sessions. These factors may have contributed to the larger number of errors observed in those without checklists.

Checklists as a means to decrease error in the organic chemistry laboratory course

244th National Meeting (2012)

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