What is your favorite nursing gadget (can be practical and necessary, like your stethoscope or nursing shoes, or just for fun).
I admit that I am a bit of a freak about office supplies in general, and nursing things in particular. I don't take much to work with me, but I am really particular about my favorites. For example, I love these EKG calipers. I have the green ones. I don't know why. It's not like they do magic tricks or anything. I just coveted them for a long time til I caved in and bought.
"my multicolor pen... I can keep track of things that need to be done on a time schedule vs basic pt info when I get report... all I have to do is quickly look over my paperwork and I can easily spot reminders for meds, labs, specimens, accuchecks, etc... I *heart* my multicolor pen..."
Well, I used to feel that way about my multicolor pen, except I couldn't ever find a use for green ink. So when I went to throw the pen away, I had a hard time doing so, knowing that there was a full well of green ink (OK, so my dad was a depression baby and taught me well!).
Seems to me that overall, nurses and their pens are not to be messed with!
My husband loves those as well. He only needed to use the red and black inks though. We removed the blue and green and replaced those with black!
As a Home Health nurse, I love the Ready-Med balls for IV meds. It's like a thick rubber balloon filled with IV medication using negative pressure in some way so that the med infuses at the proper rate, has tubing attached and is already primed. All you do is attach to the pt's IV, unclamp, and let it go. Can be set up without regard to gravity. It is the BERRIES! Great for teaching family caregivers to use.
I work in home hospice and I could not do without my headlamp. I got it at home depot and it is a must when inserting foleys in the home, heck, I would use it anywhere!
My penlight torch - essential on night duty for avoiding tripping on things, checking pumps and looking in on patients without waking them up.
I've also got a mini pulse oximeter I picked up at a conference - I'm just so protective of it that I don't use it as often as I could because some of my patients are festy!
I also use four-colour pens. I use the green ink for handover, with updates overnight and on subsequent shifts using the other colours so I can track changes.
My Joey pouch. It's available here in Australia and it was designed by a nurse. It's the best thing ever- everything has it's place and it looks really professional.
Aneroo, LPN
1,518 Posts
My husband loves those as well. He only needed to use the red and black inks though. We removed the blue and green and replaced those with black!