As a starter, use a pencil box! I can’t tell you how handy having this has been:
I use only black pens and always have extras in my box as well as in my bag in my locker. We’re about to go onto a computer system, but since we’re not there yet I also need red pens. I always have an extra of that in my box as well. Then I have highlighters. I keep a yellow highlighter in my pocket and various other colors in the box. I also have a black marker. These are used to write names and room numbers on charts. I didn’t have one at first, but after I acquired one, it made things run more smoothly. I keep a pair of scissors with me in the box. I don’t need them all the time so I like to keep them in the box since I keep enough in my pocket. I keep a pencil with an eraser in there too. While I don’t really need it for work, I use it to request my schedule. I keep a calculator to add up intake and output at the end of my shift. I usually don’t use it, but have it just in case. Once again, this will change once we go to computers. And let’s not forget, a power bar! I always have one or two power bars with me because most of the time I don’t have the time to sit and eat. This way, if I don’t have time to run in back and heat something up, I know that I at least have something to eat that can hold me over. Power bars have lots of protein so they’re great for long days. Now, here’s my last item that almost no one else on my floor carries and it really is a crucial item to have… it’s a pen light!
I can’t tell you how amazed I am that most people don’t carry them around. You’re a nurse and we will get patients every now and then that need to have neuro checks done. You must have a pen light for this. I end up loaning mine out all the time to the day nurse when she doesn’t have one. But I only give it to them if I know I’m coming back the next night. Otherwise, I know I’ll never see it again. And for the few weeks that my pen light was broken, before I got a new one, I brought a small flashlight to work.
Now, let me tell you why pen lights are of such a necessity. First of all because of the neuro check that I mentioned. You have to check pupil reaction for a neuro check. There have also been multiple times during my clinicals while I was still in nursing school that doctors went around looking for pen lights. And the nurses didn’t have them, but I as the nursing student did! When you have a patient that you are debating calling a neuro RRT on, you need to check their pupils! As a charge nurse for my floor I have called multiple neuro RRTs and I always check pupil reaction because the doctors will be asking about it. There was a time when one of the patients had one pupil that was unreactive to light, necessary neuro RRT! Another time I saved the day with my pen light, was when another nurse had a patient who pulled out her NG tube. The PA needed to replace it, but she didn’t have a light and neither did the nurse. But there I was, coming to the rescue with my pen light! And with that, the NG tube was put back into place.
Purchase a pen lightI’m sure there may be more needed for other types of floors, but this is my must-have list for a standard med-surg floor. And this of course, does not include the stethoscope I wear around my neck!
