How do u carry stuff for rotations?

[Td367]

Hi all. Looking for a better way to carry all my stuff for clinical rotations. I carry an Ipad, stethoscope, white coat clipboard, signout sheets, pocket guides, pens, pen light, iphone, personal stuff (wallet, keys), protein bar. My lab coat/scrub pockets are packed and weigh a ton. Leaning toward a bag but not a fan of a huge messenger bag or fanny pack.

Any tips/advice would be much appreciated, thanks!!

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[p30doc]

Carry less. Ditch the iPad and pocket guides. You already have an iPhone on you, which is a solid substitute for both of those things. You could also ditch the clipboard. Leave your wallet in your glovebox or at home and just bring the cards/cash you absolutely need.

 

[Mass Effect]

I had the same problem until an attending told me to get one of these.

http://www.amazon.com/Saunders-Work...1359465384&sr=8-27&keywords=storage+clipboard

You can shop around for one you like. This isn't the one I bought; it was just the first one that popped up on Amazon. I think it would be much more useful than your white coat clipboard.

I still keep a few things in my white coat in for convenience, but things like keys, protein bars, extra pens and penlights all go in the clipboard. My neck and shoulders feel so much better now that my pockets are practically empty.

 

[Bostonredsox]

Things I carried as a med student: Phone (clipped to belt), pager (clipped to belt), penlight, pen, ID badge, stethoscope, Mass Gen Redbook, Tarascons mini IM/CC book, signout sheets (folded in back pocket of scurbs or front pocket of dress shirt). You do not need anything else. The clip board is not needed. Between the redbook and your phone you do not need any other material, cept maybe a sanford guide if you dont like the phone app version.

As an intern I carried the exact same as above + sanfords.

As a senior I am down to phone, pager, mini scrub-back-pocket notebook with my own handwritten notes, stethocsope, 11 blade/bougie and a pen/sheet of paper.

Look through your stuff and see how much of it you actually use. If your hospital has online access to uptodate you basically dont need to carry any books/references. Ditch all that extra stuff.

Leave your wallet in ur car. leave your keys in your coat pocket in the residents lounge or wherever.

 

[bleeker10]

Hi all. Looking for a better way to carry all my stuff for clinical rotations. I carry an Ipad, stethoscope, white coat clipboard, signout sheets, pocket guides, pens, pen light, iphone, personal stuff (wallet, keys), protein bar. My lab coat/scrub pockets are packed and weigh a ton. Leaning toward a bag but not a fan of a huge messenger bag or fanny pack.

Any tips/advice would be much appreciated, thanks!!

Unless you routinely use the iPad, get rid of it. I carry around a Samsung 7" tablet in my white coat to read books on. I download pdf files to it rather than carrying other books. I only carry it with me when I don't have my backpack readily available or have to carry other things, like on surgery. I assume your signout sheets are in the clipboard right? Don't carry more than a day's worth of signout sheets. If you need info, transfer it to the new sheet rather than carrying extra paper. If you are using the clipboard as a solid surface to write on mainly, use your iPad for that or get better at writing without using a solid surface. Pocket guides, pen light, pens can all fit in a breast pocket. If you are wearing scrubs, do you have access to a locker for your personal items? Most surgical locker rooms have a couple extra lockers available for students/reps/other guests. Wallet and keys can easily be carried in your pants pockets. If size is an issue, get a money clip or an iPhone case that will hold some cards and cash. Money clips are nice to use with scrubs since they take up less room.

You can always get a coat with more pockets. On surgery, I used one that had 6. I also carry my phone on my belt. Also truly think about which items are needed on an everyday basis. Do you really need a penlight? I can think of only a few times I've used it in a year and a half of rotations. If I needed a light, I used the oto/ophtho scope in patient rooms or grabbed a flashlight from the nurses station (if there wasn't one in the room).

 

[jackets5]

I know I carried so much more stuff as a new third year than when I finished up rotations. By my last rotation pretty much all I had was my stethoscope, cell phone and census list/article attending gave us. There are so many computers around to check upToDate etc if you need info no reason to carry everything around.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

I ultimately got down to just carrying a stethoscope, pens, penlight, small notepad, census...and perhaps a protein bar. Wallet and keys fit in your pants pockets unless you're wearing scrubs...I'm a fan of using pdfs/Skyscape to look at texts on my phone.

Also, just about everyone in my class who started carrying around tablets eventually stopped. They're too big and unwieldy to really be useful for students.

 

[rc4ch]

Hi all. Looking for a better way to carry all my stuff for clinical rotations. I carry an Ipad, stethoscope, white coat clipboard, signout sheets, pocket guides, pens, pen light, iphone, personal stuff (wallet, keys), protein bar. My lab coat/scrub pockets are packed and weigh a ton. Leaning toward a bag but not a fan of a huge messenger bag or fanny pack.

Any tips/advice would be much appreciated, thanks!!

Ipad? Why do you need to carry around an Ipad.

 

[Td367]

Thanks for all of your great ideas!!! Seems like the general concensus is to consolidate and get rid of what I don’t need. I’ll definitely try to do that, starting with the white coat clipboard. Other ideas include bigger pockets, storage clipboard

One thing that definitely caught my attention was a reply from the clinical rotations forum (sorry double posted, didn't know). Gave me a link to this bag called a medical pack. Gonna get one. Wanted to pass it along.
http://www.innovativecareusa.com/shop/medical-pack/

Thanks again for all your help. Your comments are very thoughtful and helpful, appreciate it!

 

[Td367]

Thanks will ditch clipboard!

 

[DocEspana]

<looks at subject name>

Pockets.

 

[K31]

<looks at subject name>

Pockets.

Judging by the list of items the OP carries, I think the correct answer is "a Sherpa".

 

[113]

One thing that definitely caught my attention was a reply from the clinical rotations forum (sorry double posted, didn't know). Gave me a link to this bag called a medical pack. Gonna get one. Wanted to pass it along.
http://www.innovativecareusa.com/shop/medical-pack/

I'm no expert, but that looks like a repurposed purse. If you're going down that road, you might as well carry a backpack or messenger bag.

 

[JGimpel]

More references and gadgets in pocket=less knowledge in head (perception matters.) Whip one of those out when getting pimped in rounds and see what happens. You'll leave most of that stuff in your car very quickly. One of my classmates didn't get the point until he got destroyed by an attending that told him to prove that he had actually learned something rather than grab for a crutch all the time. We also weighed his lab coat. He was carrying almost 80 pounds of stuff around with him! iPads don't work on busy rotations; you'll hit someone with it by accident, leave it plugged in somewhere half the time or have it cracked or stolen if you're not very careful.

Phone with pdf books, 3x5 cards, 2 pens, a penlight and your stethoscope should be the basics. A Sanford Guide no more than 2 years old may be one guide you get to quickly thumb through on tough cases as the resistance profile of different organisms is always changing.

 

[ShyRem]

cross posted. Interested users may post here.