Items needed for Nursing kit for clinicals during nursing school?

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Hello everyone I am new here, and I am also a brand new nursing student started may 2013 at Chamberlain College of Nursing. So far so good and I love every minute of it, I am so excited to get ready for my Fundamentals class, but we need a nursing kit and the one the school offers is very expensive! I was wondering if anyone could help me by letting me know what comes in a nursing kit for a student nurse, and if it would be cheaper to buy the items separately and put them in my own nursing kit? Please help:nailbiting:

We use the stuff in our bags for practice in the lab and at home. We don't bring it to clinicals.

Ditto.

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Specializes in Hospice.

Ours has to be bought at the bookstore, it's just used for our sim lab. I have my own steth and cuff, but I guess it can't hurt to have an extra.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Huh - with the sky-high tuition at some schools, I would have thought that they could at least afford skills lab supplies. I learn something new every day.

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I can't for the life of me figure out why a nursing student would need to carry around a fleet enema or any of that stuff. If the patient is ordered for a fleet enema, presumably it would be dispensed from the hospital pharmacy. Medications not dispensed by the hospital pharmacy are not allowed to be administered by nurses in hospitals around here unless they are verified by the hospital pharmacist. Dressing supplies, IV supplies, etc should also be obtained from the floor you are doing clinical on if you are using them on patients.

The bags are the supplies that are needed for class labs. All of the schools in my area have their own unique set so there really is no way to get around purchasing it directly from the school. Nursing school has a lot of extra costs so i wouldnt waste your money on buy an extra bag but i would buy a better stethoscope. I have a hearing loss and the school kit one did not work for me. Best of luck.

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If it's sold in the bookstore, I'd ask them what is on it. Usually it is blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, hemostats, and bandage scissors. If they require more items like IV, foley, and even a fleet enema, those are probably for lab practice and not for hospital use.

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Specializes in LTC, Rural, OB.

Ours came with catheter kits, sterile dressing kits, IV supplies, needles, etc. These were for lab and testing purposes to be done and tested off on before certain quarter clinicals. For example, this next quarter (4th quarter, 2nd year) we will be starting IVs, our supply bag gives us the supplies to do that. The school does not provide a lot of this stuff.

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Specializes in Pedi.
We use the stuff in our bags for practice in the lab and at home. We don't bring it to clinicals.

This doesn't make sense to me either. You pay tuition, your schools should be able to stock their skills labs full of supplies. I never had to buy any such thing in school and would have been appalled if someone told me to.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

My school included these kits in tuition. We received foley kits, trach kits, IV sets & tubings, dressing kits, etc in a bag with the school logo. We had 2 of each supply, one to practice and one for check off

They issued bags since students were stockpiling supplies and costs were growing through the roof. They limited initial supplies but didn't announce there were extras if needed. ;) I heard the supply costs dropped by 75% once they switched from free-for-all to supply bags. ;) plus every student was guaranteed at least 2 sets of needed supplies whereas in previous years the hoarders (who hid supplies in their school issued lockers ). got excess and some were lucky to have enough for one set.

But this was not an extra expense unless you were careless & wasteful with supplies then a student might be charged for replacement supplies.

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During our clinical rotation, our school never provided kits like others here. Had to buy stethoscope (invest in a good quality like the Littman since you will be using this as long as you practice in Nursing), scissors, penlight (rarely i used them), and a pair of hemostat.

My friend used a fanny pack to carry all this. I just used a lab coat using pockets to store mine. NEVER LEAVE YOUR STETHOSCOPE UNATTENDED! During our first semester a few have lost theirs and could not recovered.

If you can buy them outside your Nursing Club or college bookstore, that would be great since tend to be overpriced. Amazons or your loceal uniform stores sells them at reasonable prices.

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Found this in an old thread. It was posted May 2011. Hope it helps!

i did purchase the clinical kit almost two years ago and to be honest, i only used three items from the kit. i put (used) next to the item below, stating i used it during simulations. i still have the bag sitting in my closet. oh well, at least i have a cool chamberlain zip bag i can use as a school/work bag for my books.

keep in mind that i started chamberlain about two years ago, so a lot of things have changed, therefore, you may be required to use more items from the kit then i did. in addition, it's also good to have these items yourself for extra practice now that the school has extra hours available for more simulation practice.

the following items are in the kit: (in no particular order) (items may be different as this kit was from 2009)

*tracheostomy clean and care tray (used)

*argyle salem sump

*suction catheter kit (used)

*foley catheter (don't have the exact name as label was removed) (used)

*irrigation tray with 60 ml piston syringe

*dressing tray

*wound care tray

*transfer/gait belt

*continu-flo solution set

*suture removal tray

*basic cleansing enema bag

*gauze sponges usp type vii gauze

you are very welcome.

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^BTW the post was from a Chamberlain student!

I also considered putting together by own kit since the one that Chamberlain sells is $55 but I went down the list and it seemed like too much of a hassle. Also, the bookstore manager will not tell me what is in the kit so I can not verify if its the same as above or if it has been changed.

What campus are you in?

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So If I went ahead and bought my school bag which, from what everyone is saying I am taking everyone's advice. Would I be able to purchase my own bag I have seen a lot of bags that I liked. I would rather carry my own bag vise carrying a bag that I do not want. Could I purchase extra stuff such as a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff because I know at my medical assistant school they gave us cheap stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs I want mine to last.

Check and see what is in your bag. My kit does not have a stethoscope, BP cuff, penlight, or scissors. We had to purchase those separately ourselves.

You would probably be better off just buying the kit from your school, instead of buying everything separately, because not only will you get exactly what your school wants you to have, it will probably be cheaper.

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