How do you carry your stuff for rotations?

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Maybe you should wait until you're a resident before telling posters what they'll need as a resident. Even a superstar 4th-year is still just a superstar 4th-year.

A resident will generally have less crap in their white coat than a med student.

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A resident will generally have less crap in their white coat than a med student.

Tell that to a newly minted intern - I'm sure I'll be lugging around pocket medicine, my clipboard, and a few other random pieces of junk when I start intern year (not that pocket medicine is junk by any means).

I love that there's such a strong stereotype of where you place your stethoscope depending on your specialty lol (Surgeon = pocket, IM = around the neck, although I've seen it in the pocket, on a holster, etc, EM = holster, although I've seen it around the neck).
 
Every neuro attending or resident that I have met carries some sort of bag - much bigger than this one, but they tend to carry around a lot more tools. :p

There's a few specialties I've seen which typically carry some sort of handbag - ENT, neuro, plastics, and ophthalmology usually. I've never seen people on medicine with it mostly because the most bulky tool you really ever need is an ophthalmoscope (and even then, usually not a portable one).
 
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There's a few specialties I've seen which typically carry some sort of handbag - ENT, neuro, plastics, and ophthalmology usually. I've never seen people on medicine with it mostly because the most bulky tool you really ever need is an ophthalmoscope (and even then, usually not a portable one).

Also most of the nursing stations at my hospital had an opthalmoscope, otoscope, and handheld doppler in the med room. What I love is that my Queen's Square hammer fits perfectly in the inside pocket on my white coat. The looks as I drag that thing out is amazing... as are the reflexes that you can get from it.
 
I'm pretty sure that wasn't MrDocMD's point.

Re-read the post, and point taken. Guess I miss the 'You don't know what you're talking about until you get to this point' posts unless they're directed at Pre-meds posting in Allo.

As for Arc - when I was on inpatient medicine, I was able to carry everything you have described as a MS3 (with cheat sheets, clerkship passports, patient logs, a couple days worth of notes, patient list, pocket medicine, reflex hammer + tuning fork) in my white coat. That being said, I was usually in dress clothes with a white coat that has 5 pockets.

Like I said, a clipboard by itself in a resident's long white coat? Whatever, go for it. A fanny pack (which I don't believe you were defending anyways)? Might look a little silly unless you have an awful lot of tools.

I don't know if it's the norm, but the only times I used an ophthalmoscope (<5 times total), I grabbed it from the nurses station, and I don't think I used an otoscope at all as a MS3, except on outpatient pediatrics.
 
A fanny pack (which I don't believe you were defending anyways)? Might look a little silly unless you have an awful lot of tools.

The trick to pulling off a fanny pack is to walk around like a boss. The only person I've seen at my hospital is one of the older EM attendings who has the reputation to go along with his fanny pack with a tool holster on it.

I don't know if it's the norm, but the only times I used an ophthalmoscope (<5 times total), I grabbed it from the nurses station, and I don't think I used an otoscope at all as a MS3, except on outpatient pediatrics.

Only rotation I've carried my pocket diagnostic kit on was peds. Opthalmoscope was used constantly in newborn and the otoscope was used constantly in newborn and clinic. Personally, I hate being tethered to the wall, but the volume just wasn't there to justify carrying them in the other rotations.

Likewise, I only carried pocket medicine on my IM and inpatient FM rotations.
 
Maybe you should wait until you're a resident before telling posters what they'll need as a resident. Even a superstar 4th-year is still just a superstar 4th-year.

I'm going to be a resident in June... if I see a med student with too much stuff I'll suggest they carry less. I'd only say that because the vast majority of the time you don't need that much stuff on a daily basis. I'm doing IM so if a person has more than a steth, reflex hammer, pocket medicine, paper for notes on patients, and pens then it is likely too much. Also, lots of students (not me though) bring a bookbag of some kind so if they want to bring extra stuff I'd suggest just leaving it in the bag rather than running around all day with it in the white coat.

And a storage clipboard is lame. I have never seen a resident on any service use one.


A resident will generally have less crap in their white coat than a med student.

This is generally true (referring to IM people). However some residents do have a few extra notebooks and such. Personally it seems disorganized to me but everyone is different and finds their own system. Regardless most just carry maybe one or two reference books (pocket medicine), steth, patient notes, and pens from what I can tell. Services with more specialized equipment (ent, ophtho, etc) will be different.


Also most of the nursing stations at my hospital had an opthalmoscope, otoscope, and handheld doppler in the med room. What I love is that my Queen's Square hammer fits perfectly in the inside pocket on my white coat. The looks as I drag that thing out is amazing... as are the reflexes that you can get from it.

I like carrying a small reflex hammer. It's light so doesn't really add any weight. However when I really think about it, if you aren't on a neuro rotation reflexes generally don't add any diagnostic value to most IM chief complaints.


The trick to pulling off a fanny pack is to walk around like a boss. The only person I've seen at my hospital is one of the older EM attendings who has the reputation to go along with his fanny pack with a tool holster on it.

Only rotation I've carried my pocket diagnostic kit on was peds. Opthalmoscope was used constantly in newborn and the otoscope was used constantly in newborn and clinic. Personally, I hate being tethered to the wall, but the volume just wasn't there to justify carrying them in the other rotations.

A med student with a fanny pack is beyond dorky lol!!. You'd never live it down. An ENT attending is completely different. Those guys have clout and not to mention the fact no one would ever make fun of them. Also they have to carry around a lot stuff just to do their exams unlike IM residents. I saw one the other day dragging a rolling bag behind him, that's when he pulled out his scopes so in that case it is acceptable. Other fields I see carrying a bag include neuro and ophtho but that's generally it.

Regarding the opthalmoscope I have a small portable one but usually don't use it. It's a good thing to keep in a separate bag that you leave in the resident room if possible. Otoscopes are useless outside of peds, ENT, and primary care from my experiences. Bring one on your peds rotations for sure and look in pretty much every single kid's ears but in outpatient settings they are usually on the wall (though not always - especially low income practices).
 
The trick to pulling off a fanny pack is to walk around like a boss. The only person I've seen at my hospital is one of the older EM attendings who has the reputation to go along with his fanny pack with a tool holster

I've seen an orthopod with a fanny pack, but he had it strapped around his massive biceps.
 
I did actually carry a clipboard on my sub-I, because I did have a lot of patients, and I was writing tons of stuff down. It wasn't a special folding one though - it was just a $2 clipboard from Target. It really kept me organized. I wouldn't care if a student had one, as long as it didn't look like they were writing down their observations of the team.

This sounds about like the gunnerest thing I've ever heard.... I was gunna come in and ask "people actually do that?" and then I though... yeah... I know a couple who definitely would.
 
Stethoscope? Get a belt holster (spend the money for one better than the hard plastic ones)...
I've only ever seen one kind, can you describe the difference or have a link?
 
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