Christine Moffa, MS, RN, AJN clinical editor

It’s embarrassing to admit how many times I’ve either locked myself out of my apartment or arrived at work and realized I’d left either my wallet or cell phone at home. That is, until someone very close to me taught me to say, “wallet, keys, cell phone, Metrocard” before walking out the door. Little did he know he was using a very powerful tool, the checklist.

As part of my money-saving strategies this year, I’ve resorted to using the New York Public Library to support my reading habit, instead of going to the various megabookstores in my neighborhood (I always fall for the “buy-two-get-one-free” deal!). That’s why I’m late to the party for The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande. After three months on hold, my turn finally came up—and boy was it worth the wait. There are so many great anecdotes about success stories (and some failures) of checklists—including patients surviving accidents and surgeries against all odds, averted airplane crashes, and well-orchestrated rock concerts—that it makes me want to start implementing checklists in every aspect of my life (including some at AJN). In fact, if I’d had a checklist for packing my bag for this weekend, I’d have remembered my flat iron, amongst other necessities. Now I’m forced to go the next 48 hours with serious frizz! 

My favorite part of the book, though, is that Gawande gives credit to nurses for being the originators of checklist usage in hospitals, citing vital sign charts, […]