Nursing Clipboards? Are they a go or a no?

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i'm starting the first semester of an adn program on the 27th and i wanted to know if anyone actually uses nursing clipboards such as the one found in this link http://www.standris.com/medical_clipboard.cfm.

if not, are there any others that you would recommend or are they a waste of money?? what are your thoughts??

*~*syncere~*~

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I personally think its a waste of time for the following reasons:

1. First, you don't have room for it - they are too big for pockets and few places want lose belongings laying around.

2. You can't take them into patient's room because you have other things to carry.

3. Info that you need can either be put on 3X5 index cards or loaded into a PDA.

4. They are just too bulky.

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Thanks for your help! I've decided against purchasing one considering that I have a Palm Treo 680 that I can use for clinicals. I guess that I should add a memory card to my supply list!:idea:

*~*Syncere~*~

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

I used a clipboard that I bought from WalMart that someone had listed on a thread last year. It's got a calculator on the front above the clip. It opens up and it's where I store many things that I personally don't have room for in my pockets -- a reference, pens, an energy bar, pt notes/care plans, penlight, cash. I saw them the other day and they have them in green, blue and black; they're about $9 or so. I've had many fellow students comment on it, with a couple who were going to buy one for this semester. I find it very handy!!

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I used a friends clipboard similiar to the one the above poster described one day in clinicals. I hated it!!! I kept forgetting it. It was hard to find places to stash it. And then I brought it into a pt room who was on contact precautions, so then I had to deal with disinfecting it.

So now I just have some blank paper folded up that I keep in my pockets. If it doesn't fit in my pockets, I don't need it....

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Specializes in DOU.

I loved my storage clipboard last semester, but this semester's clinical instructor won't allow us to bring them. I honestly don't know how I am going to store all the stuff I carry.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

I love my clipboard and so do the other nursing students in my program. We all own one. I also have a PDA I carry.

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In nursing school I had a "fat lil blackbook" that I bought and wrote EVERYTHING in. I marked sections with those little teeny postit tags (red stickies that stuck out, and I just jotted something short to ID what section that was, like "labs" or "dx's" or "drugs").

Mine I think was a 5-Star but you can find them in any brand. And to this day, I always have a little notebook, especially initially during an orientation, to write notes of everything I want to remember (INCLUDING lab norms because I'm sorry, I am never going to remember EVERY normal lab value)... basically, find something that will fit into a scrub top/lab coat pocket, and write down everything you need to remember. I, as well as 99% of my class, got through nursing school without a PDA. They are nice but I guess I figure with everything else going computerized, I figure I better write SOME things down or I'll forget how to write. Plus, when I write, I remember.

Good luck!

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Thanks for the responses thus far! I think that I'm going to use my PDA and maybe bring some index cards or something. We don't start clinicals until the last couple of weeks in October, so I'll have to see how this works for me. Thanks again!

*~*Syncere~*~

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Yes yes!!!

I use one at work (LPN at a hospital). I keep my brain on it, and also some other reference materials--a handout on insulin, for example.

I usually pull my meds, place them in a cup along with my med scanner on my clipboard. I wouldn't have enough hands and pockets for everything if I didn't have my clipboard as a temporary table.

I also like that I can lay my clipboard down on a a bedside table, put everything on top of it, and then easily wipe off the back of the clipboard with a sanicloth after I leave the room. If I don't have my clipboard, I don't know what to do with my handheld med scanner. It's too big to fit in my pocket; but it has the cloth and rubberish handle thing on the back and front, so if you lay it down on a bedside table it is difficult at best to clean. So I frequently use my clipboard as a clean space in a room when I am passing meds.

Plus, if I misplace my clipboard, it is easier to find then when I just carry a single piece of paper (my brain) and misplace it. Yup, I'm like that.

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Definetly a go! I didn't get mine until second semester and it totally helped. You can always chart b/c you have something to lean on. Also you can keep all of your papers together in one place. Love it!

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Specializes in Neuro.

I think it really depends on what type of unit you're on and how much reference stuff they expect you to keep with you. I have a PDA with drugs and labs and whatnot, but for my OB clinical my instructor insisted we carry about 30 pages worth of reference materials (8.5x11 sheets of paper, mind you) "on our clipboard" with info related to pregnancy lab values, breastfeeding info, maternal/newborn assessment criteria, etc. If I didn't have a clipboard (which was easily stashed at the nurse's station) I would have been in trouble. :(

That said, when I'm on a med/surg floor I usually just bring a piece of paper that becomes my brains, and my PDA.

So I would wait until you have an idea of what your clinical instructor expects you to have with you, and then decide. If you have to carry a lot of papers, a clipboard is the way to go, although I still don't know that I would shell out the money for a "nursing" one.

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