Wrist watches...what are the pros and cons?

[danvis_65]

Hi all,

I am seeking advice on the pros and cons of wearing a wrist watch while on duty. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dan

[Trubie, LPN]

Pro: I always know what time it is, I never have to look for a clock. I can easily do resp/pulse counts.

Con: Infection risk?

[merlee]

I can't imagine a day of nursing without a watch, although when I worked Neonatal ICU we were not allowed to wear them. So my good watch stayed pinned to my scrubs, never to be seen again......In the days when only a few certain units wore scrubs, and they were hospital-issued and laundered.

[cheltoe]

i just don't like them. in the way, get water under them when you wash your hands, not to mention spills or just touching "something" with your watch when you clean somebody up. i use the clip on kind for my stethoscope. works great for me.

[Jules A, MSN]

I would be lost without mine!

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

I live by mine, get a waterproof one and shower with it, that will keep it from being a petri dish.

[funvirgoRN]

I'm lost without my wristwatch. We don't have a lot of clocks on our unit so without it I wouldn't be able to monitor how long my pt seized or my IVP meds.

[Murse901, MSN, RN]

Pro: You can tell how long it's been since you've had a pee break.

Con: You can tell how long it's been since you've had a pee break.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

I NEVER wear a watch. Just the thought of it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I usually wash my hands up to my elbows, and I can't do that with a watch on. My hubby used to laugh at me for this behavior, so one day I took a swab of my watch (worn for exactly 24 hours while on duty), put it on a plate of agar, let it incubate for 48 hours and WHAMMO! More bacteria than you care to imagine. It was gross. I put some of the bacteria on slides to see exactly what was growing, and all of the natural flora showed, as expected. But surprisingly, after doing an acid fast staining of the bacteria, mycobacterium tuberculosis also showed up. I do not remember any of my patients having this, so that was sort of an enigma to me. However, I will never EVER wear a watch again!

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Nope; never would wear one at work. They always get wet and the things that my hands were near sometimes Ugggh!

I got a real nice timepiece that I would carry in my pocket but never used it as all the rooms have clocks with a secondhand.

[NYeartaGCNS]

I found that a wrist watch isn't the best for me because of all the handwashing we have to do. I found a great pin on watch on eBay for 99 cents and I love it!

[cokeforbreakfast]

My answer is a cuff watch. I have about five. They are all metal, springloaded, and I just pull off to wash my hands or when I do something invasive. There is not much risk of my forgetting it in my pocket because I am so watch-trained I would miss it prior to the end of the shift.

One con is that I often have to slip it off to type on the computer. Another is that I haven't found one yet with a back light or glowing numbers