Thursday, March 08, 2007

What's in the bag?

It occurs to me that most people probably don't know what nurses carry around in their "nursing bag." Well. I'll tell ya. I am sure back in the days they carried more "work appropriate" things. These days you will find in every nursing bag a cell phone (if it is not being worn clipped to their scrubs) a bunch of loose change (for the vending machines) a whole bunch of alcohol wipe pads, a few syringes and a few needles (no we don't take them home for our own personal use... they just end up in the bag cause they were in our pocket and no we don't "do drugs". We pass them) a few caps for IV's, a granola bar or some other kind of prepackaged snack that won't expire anytime soon (to be kept onhand for the days that someone cleans the refridgerator including your lunch, and you have no loose change or money) a stethascope, a hemostat or two, a few rolls of loose tape, a colace, senacot, atenolol, or some other loose medication that a patient refused (remind me to write the blog about "refusing" meds...) a wallet, a planner, the schedule for the floor for at least the current and past 2 schedules, advil or some other pain reliever for those kind of days, a few tampons and/or pads, and a handful of pens, highlighters, and other writting devices. I am sure there are variations.
It's good to be me. It just is. And now you know what I carry... What's in yours?