any specific tools or equipment you use

[poopylala, BSN, RN]

Hi! I was just offered a job as a new grad RN at a level 1 BICU in our medical center and I couldn't be more excited! I'm curious if there are any specific tools y'all use with burn patients? I have an awesome stethoscope and amazing set of bandage scissors but I realize there may be things y'all use that I've never thought of. Just curious to see if there is anything different than what I'm used to using in the cardiac IMU where I work now?

[marienm, RN, CCRN]

I hate to say it, but we use dedicated patient equipment on my unit...disposable stethoscopes in the rooms, scissors that come from the sterile processing department, etc... I do still wear my own stethoscope because my unit also takes other patients, and sometimes I'll slide it into a glove and use it if I can't hear well enough with the disposable one. I would definitely not use scissors on one patient that I'd used on another--I wouldn't even want them in my pocket because by the end of a dressing change they're slippery with xeroform goo/bacitracin/fluids!

I can't think of any specialized equipment that we use, honestly, at least not that a nurse would carry around. (I mean, we have a Bovie on our unit and other units don't, but it's stored in a storage room!) We also put on yellow gowns to go into most rooms, so I don't even carry red caps/saline flushes/alcohol wipes in my pocket- too hard to get them out! I stash a few on top of the IV pump at the beginning of my shift.

[poopylala, BSN, RN]

Brilliant! Thank you :)