What is in your pockets at shifts end?

[Chuckie]

I

[Jen911]

Let's see... My black pen, a red pen, a spare black pen in case some Doc runs off with one.. A carpuject, scissors, calculator, usually a couple IV caths, carmex, Starbucks mints, advil, immodium (ya never know), my car keys, smokes (misty menthol lights), lighter, and my albulterol inhaler (don't wanna hear it!!!). More than once I've made it home with a partial dose of narcotics in my pocket, only to get back in my car to go back and properly waste it.. *sigh*...I HATE when that happens ...arggghhhhhhhh.... Oh, and about $10 for those mellow nights for when we can send someone out to Starbucks or Jack in the Box for food or drinks :-)

[princess_64]

6 pens (aquired from various sources) 5 alcohol preps, 2 unused lancets, my "brain", 2 Peices of peppermint, Maybe a little change (if I'm lucky!)and 3 syringe caps! That is what was in my pocket at 0750!

[azgirl]

It's ok though. If they stay in my pocket they go through the washing machine whether husband or I have them.

I have a glove, a plastic waste basket liner, an alcohol wipe and of course the pen.

[nur20]

After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, the stress of the world situation and hostile attitudes, i am loving this thread!!!

[mattcastens]

Depends on how busy my shift has been. I know it's been a rough one if I have vomit in my pockets. (Yes, it's happened more than once.)

[Whisper]

I collect so much junk in my pockets! I have my floor plan of the ward with pt names and basic info. A note book, a pack of sticky post-its, which make my to-do list, a calculator,my id badge, a highlighter, my scissors (whenever they turn up;)) my mobile phone switched off, my car keys, a spare hair bobble and grips, some money, a black biro and a red biro and my fob watch which generally lives in a pocket.

And that is at the START of a shift!!!:)

By the end, i usually have a packet of tissues, the odd plaster, the caps form needles, and even the odd packet of normasol!! as well as the chocolate wrappers from what I ate during the shift

Imagine what I would be like if I had pockets in my trousers as well as my tunic!!!!!

[TracyB,RN, RN]

This is too funny:)

I have at least 3 pens, 1 blue, 1 black, 1 red, usually a purple gel pen, too, for my own notes, a little notebook for personal documentation, just in case, pack of Marlboro Menthol Ultralights, 2 lighters, gum, umpteen alcohol pads, tape, scissors, a scrunchie, work keys, 1 pink & 1 yellow highlighter, money, lotion, chapstick, pictures of my girls, just in case I run into someone I haven't seen for a while, & every month, well . . . you know :)

[Dazedgiggle]

I have nothing! I used to, I finally brought a pencil box to work with everything I need, pencils, pens, sharpie, Kelly clamps, scissors, tape measure, mints, change, eraser, post its, etc! I used to walk out of work 5 pounds heavier than when I walked in thanks to everything I stuffed in my pockets! LOL Everyone at work makes fun of my pencil box, but where do you think they go when they need something? Love this thread!

[Arwen]

2 pens (the soft grip kind) in bright colors so I can spot the ones that are mine in case somebody absconds with them, a little bitty golden bandage scissors, yellow highlighter, black permanent marker, bunches of alcohol wipes, adhesive remover, betadine, band-aids, tegaderm and/or opsite, paper or plastic tape, maybe a peppermint (though I usually eat them all before the shift is over) and the all-important keys to the cart. I make it a habit to completely empty my pockets before I leave so I never go home with the keys to the cart. Wouldn't want to get home and find I still had the keys and have to go all the way back. Noooooo. That would be VERY bad.

[Brown_1057]

I'm enjoing all of the responses. I'm a new member .

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I didn't have a pencil box, but I did have a bright yellow Easter bucket from the dollar store that everything went into. Our lockers were about 12"x12" so the bucket fit right in after work. And that's about all that did fit.

Contents were etoh packets, bandaids, small address book for phone numbers and computer supply codes, coin purse (full of quarters for the soda machine, purple nitrile gloves, 2-4 pens, trauma scissors (teal green), hair comb, extra scrunchie/barette, allen wrenches (ortho braces that required adjusting) small pair of pliers (same) usually a couple of iv caths, a syringe or two, 2 hemostats....and the partridge in a pear tree, next to the kitchen sink.

We used a Pyxis so thank heavens the KEY THING was not a problem.

You could find me really easily by looking for the bucket. And everone knew to keep their hands out/off of it.

P

[mario_ragucci]

Wow - it's no big deal to talk about whats in our pockets, huh? Okay, I'm not a RN until Fall 2004, but during my CNA training my "scrub" shirt pockets that were low at my waist (one on each side) sometimes had a carrot in them, or sometimes a 2 cubic centimeter piece of sharp cheddar cheeze wrapped in tin foil from home, in case i got those cravings. My .5 mm soft lead mechanical pencil is clipped to my inside v-neck. Sometimes I had Marlboro 100's Lights Box in them, but only if other people I knew who smoked were training with me. Also, several pages of lecture notes (as security) scrolled up and tucked in, in case I felt like I was forgetting something I could make a glance. Otherwise, my stuff is in my Aeroflex backpack. Phew!