what items could you not go a nursing shift without?

backtowork · Feb 25, 2012

My sense of humor...:heartbeat:nurse::heartbeat

RanieRN, MSN, RN · Feb 25, 2012

At least one black pen, a multicolor pen, yellow highlighter, black sharpie, scissors, penlight, supervisor keys, badge, small notebook, and water bottle all come from home. Once I'm at work, several pairs of gloves (there's never boxes of smalls hanging around when I need them!), flushes, at least one roll of tape, and alcohol wipes.

I love me some cargo style scrubs!!

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Feb 25, 2012

Tons of alcohol wipes, my steth, and my gel pens. And, of course, my brain sheet. I could probably make do without the steth but if I lose my brain sheet, I'm toast.

chansen · Feb 25, 2012

I love cargo uniforms, because I'm a walking boy scout in the ED. I don't like to have to leave the room for additional supplies for IVs or gather up extras for med admin when making a trip to the pyxis.

Stethoscope around the neck, small flip pad to jot things down in my breast pocket with two 4-color pens. Left pant pocket is 18 and 20 gauge angiocaths, right pant pocket is iphone and my leatherman squirt (the pliers come in handy for stuck IV tubing, swapping out tubing to ours when a patient comes from an OLH or by squad), left cargo inside pocket are tourniquets,left cargo outside pocket are wrapped 5 ml flushes, right inside pocket are wrapped 10 ml syringes, filter needles, and blunt fill needles, and right outside cargo pocket is filled with alcohol wipes, chloroprep, and tegaderms. Hemostats are clipped to my scrub top with paper, plastic, and fabric tape rolls threaded on top, with my trauma shears dropped down through the tape.

The diet coke stays back at the station inside our drink box!

RN/Mom · Feb 25, 2012

I carry a backpack that always has bottled water, at least 3 black clicky pens, pencils, a small LED flashlight (I work nights), gum, Hall's Defense lozenges, a stethoscope, scissors, ibuprofen, yellow highlighter, feminine products, travel toothbrush/toothpaste, rubberbands/hairclips, and my school books (so I can study if I have any downtime). Once there, I load up with flushes, alcohol wipes, plastic tape, and a few sterile 4x4s and 2x2s.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Feb 25, 2012

A punching bag.

ORoxyO · Feb 25, 2012

Diet pepsi, scissors, 3-4 pens, chapstick

jessicamRN · Feb 25, 2012

Coffee, diet coke, and my HIGHLIGHTER!!!

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Feb 25, 2012

Tazer and duct tape.

PeepnBiscuitsRN · Feb 25, 2012

Diet Coke, stethoscope, scissors, Diet Coke, 5-6 pens (blue, black, red...I swear they're all gone by 0630). Ummm a little bitty notebook for to write stuff down, pen light, Diet Coke, 800 saline flushes, 8000 alcohol wipes, Diet Coke, name badge, useless piece of plastic (aka Vocera) a good attitude and a song in my heart.

That is the downsized version. The old, full fledged version included at least 5 more Diet Cokes and an EKG Notes for Nurses Book.

al586 · Feb 25, 2012

Coffee, patient cheat sheets, stethoscope, pulse oximeter, bandage scissors, yellow highlighter, black sharpie, 4 color ballpoint pen, & a prayer to God that I don't have to kill doctors or family members.

Aurora77 · Feb 25, 2012

A smile and a friendly attitude, even if I'm having a cranky day. I can start IVs, give injections, insert catheters, change dressings, basically do all kinds of painful, uncomfortable things to people and they're OK about it if I approach them with a genuinely nice manner. It also seems to turn around the attitudes of those who are mad about something day shift did or didn't do.

The same smile and friendly attitude makes things go much more smoothly with my coworkers as well and makes me feel better.