Phone, pen, rounding report, gum. You need nothing else. Nothing. Don't even wear a white coat, those are sweaty and transmit infections.
No offense, but have you been an intern? Your status says med student.
You will wear the white coat if that is the culture of your program. And you will be thankful for its pockets as a med intern.
I roll my sleeves up to try to decrease grossness.
Will the uniform do that for you? Are do you have to take it to your own tailor?
No, no one will do a goddamn thing for you. I repeat, expect that no one not even a pizza delivery guy you've called to the hospital and paid, will do a goddamn thing for you in the hospital. Except for nurses, but they will not be doing anything for you per se, they will only do the orders you write for patients. Maybe begrudgingly, I might add.
Although sewing in an extra pocket is a great idea if you need a pocket to fit something special like a tablet or ipad, or if the white coat clipboard is something you carry that doesn't fit otherwise. I recommend the white coat clipboard. Or Maxwell's. Or both.
You should carry as much as you can possibly handle if in doubt of what you need. You can always shed layers as you go. The reason the attending and residents look practically naked is because they a) know what they are doing b) know where everything is and c) have you to do everything besides think, which is why they are just running around with nothing but their steths and their brains
I carry:
pocket protector (do not question me on this one, one day something very bad will happen to you if you don't) Maxwell, tongue depressors, pen light, at least 2 pen colors, maybe a highlighter if I'm feeling artistic, NSAID/APAP (you're right Tired about the rounding!), breath mints/gum (ever wonder why so many doctors have halitosis? don't these guys know to brush their teeth? it's coffee breath, you will have it if you don't already after gargling like 5 lattes a day), chapstick or any other little thing like that you can't live 12 hours without in breast pocket
Stethy (get a name tag for it or you'll be sorry one day)
Goggles that are easy to carry, like on a lanyard, unless you wear large rimmed glasses (do not question me on this one, one day, maybe not one day soon, you will either be very glad you took this advice or very sad you didn't, and goggles are only as good as when they are on your face)
Pocket Medicine, IM's field bible
White coat clipboard if that's your thing
Big tuning fork
Sanford guide abx
EKG Pocketguide of some sort if that scares you
ACLS cards
Smartphone with apps like Epocrates, UptoDate, USPTF guidelines or something to help you with clinic, med calc
Scut sheets or however you like to organize your lab values
Important phone/pager numbers list
Pager
Consider a watch, you may not need it to tell time, but sometimes you're lucky that a patient notices you looking at it and gets a hint, it's a great social grace in clinic
I always have some kind of calories at hand, even if it's just a sugar packet from the nurse's lounge
Some residents carry caffeine pills
If your med school didn't facilitate learning to replenish electrolytes, find a little guide, that will be one of your first jobs of the day
Make love to your program's materials, EHR, and pager
Check out my post
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/what-interns-should-know-day-1.1130633/#post-16691602
