Hey guys! This is Tammy with NurseMinder in today's video we are talking about
all the resources you're going to need for lab and clinical
starting with scrubs. So i'm going to give you a list down in the description
box below first of all let's take a step back
in the description box you're going to find your shopping list for essentials
and I've done the research on the different types of scrubs available to
you and I have found there are five companies that do
really well in terms of nurses pick for fit,
comfort, breathability, um washing, wearability, in terms of color not fading
so they're down below you can do all your shopping at amazon
you don't even have to go out into the crowds to worry about anything
let's talk a little bit about the scrub top and what are some of the common
things I see students doing and some of the things you want to
consider when you're picking out your top.
Welcome back my name is Tammy and this is NurseMinder and on this channel we do
everything nursing so if you're new here consider subscribing below so that you
get the next video when it's released. All right so you've got your checklist
and we are ready to start picking out those things that we want and need for
lab and clinical. Now the very top of the list of course
is your scrubs. Many of your universities and colleges
will be providing you with a particular color that you need to
buy or a style or they will have them at your bookstore for you to
get. If you're at the stage where you're allowed to purchase your own
I have a few recommendations for you to make sure you get
scrubs that are going to be easy and functional to use
but at the same time fashionable breathable and flexible
that's an important one I have seen many a nurse's
butt crack because their scrubs do not fit properly.
That's not cool. So go for a nice fit so you can actually
move in your shirt you're going to be doing a lot of patient lifting and
moving you don't want it to be so tight that you're restricted okay
I like personally like a v-neck. I like a short sleeve although you can get long
sleeves when you're doing patient care you have to roll it up,
okay I also like a little bit of a fit here and
the split is really nice. Okay when it comes to the pants,
pockets are great on both sides that's awesome but the most important pockets
are here, right on this side. This is out of the way of patient care I
can move with it, it's not likely to fall out and
it allows my top to still look professional when I'm coming in to do
patient care. Those are my favorite pockets. The second
thing you're going to need is a good pair of shoes now I happen to like
the Saucony company because they have some fun colors
and they're really comfortable walking slash running shoes
and when you're on your feet all day you want a lot of great cushion
and these just kind of give a good personality shoes
Now if your university or college is recommending that you get white
nursing shoes by all means I've got a link down below for those slip-on shoes
which are fabulous i love the slip-on shoe if you prefer a
tie you can get those as well. Okay so you're dressed but there's a few
things missing we need our stethoscope! Now you're going to want to invest in
your stethoscope, yes you can get reasonably priced
stethoscopes usually from your bookstore that are
beautiful colors, but I will share with you I find that they
do not have the same quality as the Littmann stethoscopes. You will want
to get a Littmann stethoscope. Okay a classic two is what I
have but I think they're called classic three now when I look at the comparison
because this one I've had since 2006. Let me tell you this is an investment
piece. No question about it it will be with you
for your entire career. i promise you you will not regret that
decision. The next thing we need to put on is our ID badge
and I'm going to talk to you about why you want to get one of the retractables
right here. So as this sits here on my scrub it
doesn't move anywhere it's attached fairly well which is great
but every time I need to get into a room all the access doors are by electronics
and you're always like having to lean forward or take this off
to scan and so that can be kind of annoying sometimes. So my
tip is to get the retractables and there's a lot of great
great fashionable ones you can get I've got a link below for some really cute
ones. and replace this piece
with the retractable one
and then you can attach. There we go and so now when you have to
open a door you can retract your ID without having to bend over
into awkward positions to use your ID so this is a must.
The next thing you're going to want is a quality pen light because when you go in
to assess your patient to make sure that they're not dead
you're going to want to be able to see everything. In addition you use this pen
light to check for pupils and you want to make sure
that even the darkest condition you can see - did you notice
that? My pupils changed shape. I'll do that one
more time. i think they've recovered now you should
notice that my pupil has dilated and that's what you're going to be using
your pen light for in addition to checking into their IV
pumps to make sure that the fluid bags are still full,
looking to empty out the foley bags, you're going to want a pen light that's
really bright but focused! All right so the pen lights can come in
different colors what I would recommend is you get one that is
battery powered and um I guess they're all battery powered, my apologies, but one
where you can open it up and replace so a double or a triple AAA battery that
powers your pen light. Now there's some nursing ones I'm going
to pop up here they also have the benefit of having the different pupil
sizes to help you identify the size of your patient's
pupils before and after you have shone the light in them those
are great if you don't prefer to have that one you can go ahead
and grab just any industrial pen light this is what i just grabbed at walmart
again I've got links here for you so you can do all your shopping at home
online. Now in addition to the pen light that you're
going to put in your pant pocket you're also going to need your bic pen
your four color big pen black is for writing your nursing notes
red is for your allergies and highlights and
blue and green are for just you you're also going to want a sharpie so you can
mark on your IV bag if you need to or maybe
on the foley bag or you've got like a chest tube and
you're marking how much fluid is draining you will need a black sharpie
so you can do that work. We're almost done
but you might notice that something's missing! We need a watch! We absolutely
need to watch that has the second hand on it so you need to be able to see
you need to be able to see the seconds
counting down and why is that important because we have to count people's
respirations and we need to listen to their heart rate and we need
to make sure we're doing it for the right amount of time.
So get yourself a good watch. This is waterproof, it's a triathlon which you
don't have to have. It's good for underwater but you know
then I don't have to take it off when I wash my hands because it's fine to get
wet. So the other option is to get a lapel
watch and this would just go with your ID and you would attach it here
and then you don't have to worry about wearing one on your wrist and so as you
look down to do your patients respirations
you would then look at your watch as you're looking down at their arm.
For me because I wear trifocals this doesn't work anymore because
i can't find the sweet spot to read it so
either one is fine. I do have a link in the description box so that you can
pick up a lapel one or a wrist one. All that's left now
are the books that we're going to need so we've got our Drug guide
and we have the Merck Manua, This is one I recommend to my students
all the time you can actually get this as a free download
as an app i highly recommend you put this on your phone you can get the
consumer version and the professional version and what it
gives you um is layman's terms for a lot of different
diseases and tests and there's videos on different procedures and it's just a
really good quick resource that you can look up
when you have a question. Fabulous. I have had this book with me
for years and I took it to every clinical placement I
went to rather than drag around my big Potter and Perry or
my med surg book. This is the second book
you're going to need is your drug guide so again you want to make sure you have
the most current year I'll have the link down below for the Davis
drug guide but again you can also get this as an app it is a purchase
you can get a 30 day free I believe um so make sure you get the 30 day free
right before your one month clinical and then if you find it really valuable
you can keep that for a little bit longer. I've never
gotten rid of it it's been on my phone for years.
Now many places are requiring that you change your scrubs before you leave
and so let's just go back to my street clothes for a second.
What I wanted to share with you is that NurseMinder does have a line of clothing
and the messaging is all around how we work
together so we have the stronger together messaging and the make it a
great day both of these are to recognize that
nursing is a profession that requires that we lean on each other and that
we stand up to stop bullying. So if you'd like to get your NurseMinder merch
check the link below - it's in the description box where you can pick up
your clothing as well. Until next time guys
make it a great day :)