The case of the missing pens: A rant and an idea

[Florence NightinFAIL]

so i recently went from a big city, teaching hospital where i was spoiled with, among other things, the latest equipment/machines, pcas, iv team, etc...and best of all

endless pen supplies for staff. :heartbeat

at my new small, dingy, community hospital - under the same health authority as above - the hospital is old, the equipment is old, pcas are available once in a blue moon, iv teams are unheard of, and everyone hoards whatever pen they have with their lives. you leave it unattended for 5 seconds and its gone.

most of my day is hunting for stupid pens. just today i lost three! three. i have no idea why the hospital does not supply it. it's not the price of the pens i'm upset about - i could get a dozen from the dollar store for a buck - but considering how much charting we do in a shift [] i really can't afford to waste precious time looking for **** pens all day.

anyway - i hope some of you can relate to how annoying this is. i just finished a night shift and instead of enjoying my cozy bed, i'm online trying to figure out how i can stop losing my darn pens and this is what i found:

pens with attached clips

have any of ever used them? the reviews i found were that they were cheap and broke easily. i shall keep on searching though until solve this problem of mine.

what are your pen woes?

[LoneWolfRN2010]

OMG if i lose one of my pens I can no longer focus on anything else until it is found, LOL.

That being said, it is rare that my pen is anywhere except in my hand or in my pocket. Nobody borrows my nice pen. I keep a cheapy one for if someone needs to borrow one.

After I graduated school, I got a nice-ish pen (pentel energel metal) and had it engraved with my name. It cost me as much to have it engraved as the pen cost, LOL, but it was worth it. everyone knows it's mine and nobody wants a pen with my name on it!

[hecallsmeDuchess]

I too hate looking for pens but two good things are that my employer supplies pens, the other is that all our charting is on the computer. Still, when I bring my own pen and lose it, it pains me!

[DDdove, LPN]

Grace: Oh, were those pouches on my uniform for putting stuff in? Gosh darn, that's what I haven't been doing. Thanks for letting me know.

Chin up, thanks for the tip. I'll buy more. I should have thought of that.

haha:yeah:

[Sugar-Phosphate]

I am sorry for stealing your pens. This is coming from an unintentional pen kleptomaniac. For some reason I always end up with more pens in my purse. Granted, I lose them as quickly as I obtain them. Start of the day 10 pens, end of the day maybe 2 if I am lucky. But, when I come home, ahhhhh pens, pens, pens. I buy pens like some people buy shoes.

:uhoh21:

[Poi Dog]

Conversation I heard last night.

CN: "Hey that's MY pen. Where did you find it?

Pen thief: "It was in the pyxis.

CN: "Well I know that's MY pen because I am the ONLY one who has that type of pen."

Pen thief: "Can I use it for now, please?"

CN: "OK, but you better return it afterwards."

When our shift was done, the CN hunted that woman down like a lion chasing after a hyena...lol

I was sitting there :sofahider thinking a fist fight was going to ensue. Haha

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

I have to admit it, I'm a pen thief. It isn't intentional though- I ckecked my pockets yesterday and I had seven pens! I started the day with three...

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

This is why I use the cheapest black pens I can find. I probably have 2 or 3 packs of dollar-store black pens in my work bag.

[mcmuff13]

We had to change clothes at the hospital when I worked in OB, so everything was emptied from pockets to lockers every day. When I left after 10 years, I had 74 pens in my locker.

I turned them all back in.

[Cat365]

Someone needs to teach me the earlobe trick.

Thats what started the plug craze for ear piercing! I always wondered.

[Cat365]

I always start my night with three. Sometimes I end with none, other times I have more. I must be coming out ahead though because the last time I cleaned out my car I had thirty.