hermanajuli

I came here knowing I have years of experience behind my back but working in another country is a whole new actuality. Expectations, work culture and store hours might be different.

Gears

• Stethoscope
  • You are expected to assess patients head to toe upon the start of your shift.Listen to the heart, lung and bowel sounds. They are also pretty handy to re-assess your patients when they start looking sicker. It says it is FSA or HSA eligible so you can buy it with your health accounts but I haven’t tried. If you are able to please let me know I want to but a new one.

• Sharpie
  • Believe it or not I have never appreciated sharpies this much when I started working as nurse. Marking the IV you successfully insert, dating your dressing change, dating and labeling. And I admit to marking my pedal and post tibial pulses with my pink sharpie because not hospitals carry skin markers on their unit.
• Penlight/Flashlight
  • I usually have a yellow light penlight in my pocket to assess pupil response, nowadays if a pupillometer is available I use it instead. If your a night shift nurse, a tiny flashlight is always a good thing. Instead of opening lights and waking your patients up, you have a tiny light that can navigate you through the darkness.
• Scissors
  • Having your own inside one of your pockets saves you time, effort and essentially makes you more efficient. You can survive a shift not having one, but you’ll also thank yourself for having one when the need arises.
• Fanny pack
  • I personally don’t carry one, I just buy a uniform with a lot of pockets and shove all the alcohol wipes, tape, gauze, caps, flushes and other trinkets inside them but if you fancy carrying one to save your time going to the supply room to every time you need something it can also be helpful.
• Pen and Mechanical Pencil
  • I usually use whatever the hospital provides but if you think having a nice pen and mechanical pencil gives you satisfaction get a good one. Sometimes tiny things that bring you joy is essential when you work in a stressful environment. Why mechanical pencil you say? I write my report with a pencil, so when I work 3 days straight I just update my sheet by erasing discontinued drips and adding new ones. Makes me feel that my report sheet looks more clean and understandable in my eyes.
• Cheat code
  • You can always carry one to make better decisions for your patients and to save your brain from overworking. A clipboard is very handy because you can also attach your report sheet. Comment below if you want me to post my favorite report sheet template.

Lunch

For morning shift cafeteria is almost always open but at night most store closes before 10pm. It is always advisable to carry your lunch and some snacks, specially when you are working night shift. You will also see a lot of water bottles by their desk because with all the walking, it is a gentle reminder that you need to drink water in 12 hours of work is kindness for your body.

Happy duty!