5 Best Nurse Essentials That Are A Must Have

Once you graduate from nursing school, you need to be ready for your first day at your job. Once the excitement of passing out from a nursing school will fade away, anxiety will kick in making you wonder what essentials you will need to be prepared for your professional needs.

Below are some nursing essentials that are a must in your bag:

The Nurse Necessities

1. Scrubs

Nurses and scrubs go hand in hand. They are the peanut butter to a nurse's jelly toast. A nice pair of scrubs has a staunch impact on your personality. They not only advocate the nobleness of your professional but also give you an edge over others.

Most nurses are concerned about the way their scrubs fit. Generally, a good scrub is one that is form fitting, but it needs to strike the right balance. For instance, if a scrub is too tight, it will not look professional or be comfortable to be worn during long shifts. Similarly if it is loose, you will look like a slob affecting your professional appeal.

2. Stethoscope

You must be surprised to find this on the list of nursing essentials, while you must already be having them from nursing school. The primary reason behind mentioning it here is that once you graduate from nursing school, you might have to look into the workability of your stethoscope.

A few questions that you need to ponder upon are:

• Is it a hnad me down stethoscope?
• Has the condition worn out?
• Did you invest in a cheaper variant for your nursing school that may not suffice the need now?

The quality of the stethoscope you use, makes a big difference on its overall performance. The cheap ones are not very functional. They may have issues with the quality of the sound. Moreover, they can be harsh on your ears, poking you whilst wearing.

Just before you are about to join your workplace, assess if you need to get a better stethoscope. This does not essentially mean that you spend on pricey ones that breaks the bank. Furthermore, when you decide to get a new stethoscope, also invest in a stethoscope identification tag.

At times doctors and your coworkers may want to use your stethoscope. Thereby, an identification tag will make it easier for you to get it back.

3. Badge Reels

Most hospital will hand over a badge clip to go with your ID badge. If you are the only one, then there is not an issue. However, there are a few reasons why you need to invest in the badge reel.

1. You might want something that is trendier than the plain one you will get.
2. There might be a security door and you may not want to take out and wear the badge time and again.
3. Similarly, you may what to have a cheat sheet attached to the badge enabling you to refer to it as need be.

4. Pens

You might be thinking that I am now stating the obvious and all medical facilities provide pens to their staff, and honestly, it will be surprising if they didn't. Unfortunately, the pens you get at work are poor quality.

Generally, facilities prefer the cheapest option available to buy for their staff. Therefore, get yourself a pen that is comfortable and easy to write with.

Secondly, you would generally want a click pen that you can take out of your pocket, click it open and click it back to close and keep it safely in your pocket.

So if you decide to invest in a good quality pen, here's what you need to look for:

• Your pen so that you don't waste time asking others to lend you one. Once, I had to go to the other ward in search of a pen.
• A click pen that is easy to use.
• A pen that writes smoothly.

5. Pen Light

Having a good pen light is a life saver especially if you have to do neuro checks. Generally, facilities have pen lights available, but there are some that hand over flashlights to get the job done.

Time is important in the healthcare sector and you wouldn't want to waste it by looking for pen lights. Therefore, just get yourself a pen light, they are cheap and honestly helpful at the time of need.

All in all, there is an infinite list of essentials that you can spend upon. However, for starters, you can just get these five and soon invest in other things that you need. Remember, it is your first job, don't overspend in the start at least.