What has ended up in your pockets?

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So I got home today and found stuff in my pockets that I didn't walk in with. Which made me think.. what have you found in your pockets when you got home?

Me-

a pulse ox thing, the refridgerator lock, tape, scissors, and omg once the narcotic key.( I ran right back for that one lol)

A collection of high-lighters, a black sharpie, scissors, just the usual.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

Worst I have done is morphine mixed in a 10cc syringe, before the pyxis had pre filled syringes... yeah, back to work to waste. I have made it to the car with the narc keys and the seat belt has saved me many a trips back.:D I'm a pen thief, I usually leave with two more than I came with.. i have 8 pens in my purse now, have not purchased one... so pocket your pens my nursing buddies!

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Specializes in Med Surg.

The usual alcohol swabs, flushes, and c-sheets I forgot to run through the shredder. We have to do the resp. txs. at night so I sometimes find a unit dose of albuterol, atrovent, brovana, etc.

The most aggravating thing I have found when I got home has to be the narc keys. I had to turn around and drive 42 miles back to work in the middle of an early morning thunderstorm.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
Worst I have done is morphine mixed in a 10cc syringe, before the pyxis had pre filled syringes... yeah, back to work to waste. I have made it to the car with the narc keys and the seat belt has saved me many a trips back.:D I'm a pen thief, I usually leave with two more than I came with.. i have 8 pens in my purse now, have not purchased one... so pocket your pens my nursing buddies!

So YOU'RE the one who has been stealing all those pens! I wondered where they had got to.... ;)

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I always check my pockets before leaving the hospital, I don't want to find any meds in my pockets because that would make me think about it all day. I usually take 2-3 alcohol wipes with me to clean my stethoscope, I wound't go and place them back.

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after I go through all of my pockets I end up with a bunch of alcohol preps... every time I work!

They are taking over my car and house. LOL. I have also left with flushes, red caps, IV start kits, 2x2. I work for a county hospital so everyone stuffs their pockets before shift because there is no telling if you will have supplies come lunch time. LOL.

Luckily I take the same bag to work everyday so I throw all the extra supplies there so its available at the next shift.

I havent left with meds or keys in my pocket. I live too far away and take public trans to work to go back.

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Butt cream (lotion you know the stuff), my work phone (oops), cardizem, an insulin pen from a d/c'd pt. Lots of pens, alcohol swabs, a flush or two.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

When alcohol wipes go through the dryer, they puff up like little pillows. :yeah:

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When alcohol wipes go through the dryer, they puff up like little pillows. :yeah:

You're funny :)

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I usually go to work with a half a dozen pens.. and go home with none.

That's because loriangel14 keeps thieving them!

When alcohol wipes go through the dryer, they puff up like little pillows. :yeah:

I've never had that one happen! They always stay in their little packages!

I have gotten in the habit of cleaning my pockets out before I leave work. I keep my cell phone in a dedicated scrub top pocket, and this is also the pocket I place any meds that are declined or I hold for whatever reason. This way when I leave I stick my hand in my pocket and *oh yeah I need to return that!*. I didn't always do this. I actually never had my phone on me (I keep it in airplane mode, fwiw) while at work until I accidentally took something I didn't want to or mean to take home. I had to run the item back to work and give it to the floor manager, which as a new grad was a *very* uncomfortable thing to do... Ever since I keep the phone and declined meds in that pocket, I've never had a problem.

I'm the person that always has prefilled flushes, alcohol preps, etc. on my person. This has come in handy more times than I can ever tell you. Needless to say I have a box full of stuff that I leave on my counter when I get home ;)

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Specializes in Med Surg, Telemetry, Long Term Care.

ns flushes,22 gauge needle,tapes,alcohol wipes.hehe!!!!!!

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Step-down Unit.

When working the paramedic unit, I put *everything* in my pockets. I'll come home with 5 or 6 pair of gloves (clean!), backings from EKG electrodes, angio wrappers, sometimes angios. Had a bad asthmatic one day at the end of the shift, came home with two unopened vials of epi, two "bullets" of proventil, and a 1ml syringe (unopened).

I don't like leaving things all over the patient's living room, and I tend to grab what I may need quickly out of the jump kit just in case. It all goes back the next day... Worst I ever did was bring home the keys to the truck. Fortunately there are two sets.

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