New Nurse Checklist: Essential Items You Need on the Job

Few jobs expect you to hit the ground running like nursing. Stepping inside a hospital for your first shift can feel like stepping into another dimension where chaos and noise have replaced order and process. Patients don’t know it’s your first day and don’t care. The learning curve is steep. You must be prepared to keep it from getting steeper.

Preparation starts with the essentials. For a nurse, it’s the things you rely on for every shift, that help you control the things you can control. What are the essentials for nursing? Let’s look at the items no nurse can live without.

Divide and conquer your checklist

It doesn’t matter if you’ve come to nursing through a Bachelor of Science or one of the streamlined MSN programs for non nurses; your first day as a nurse will wrack your nerves. To limit the overwhelm looming over your shoulder, make a checklist. That way, you can divide and conquer. For this guide, we’ve divided your essential items into three groups: Your nursing outfit, your nursing tools, and your well-being.

Your Nursing Outfit

Let’s start with your nursing outfit. Like doctors, nurses have to look the part. In a busy hospital, staff and patients need to identify you in a blink.

Scrubs

This is your uniform. Practical, comfortable, and durable; tick these boxes and you’ll never dread getting changed for work. Don’t forget pockets. Other items in this guide need somewhere to live, so make sure your scrubs have ample pocket space. Also, take note of what color scrubs you need. A change in color can mean a change in ward or rank. Check in with your department and make sure you’re dressed right to avoid confusion.

Footwear

A junior nursing role where you sit most of the day doesn’t exist. What exists are shifts and double shifts where you walk around a hospital the entire time. Following doctors, visiting patients, and guiding visitors; the tide of activity is as diverse as it is relentless. Make sure your shoes are up to it. Comfy, tough, and easy to clean.

The Right ID

Scrubs are your unofficial ID. Your official ID is the badge that carries your name and photo. Hospitals and clinics are highly monitored environments, so carry it with you at all times. No excuses.

Your Nursing Tools

Now that you look like a nurse, let’s focus on the tools you’ll use each day.

Stethoscope

The most recognizable medical tool, bar none. Every nurse, every doctor, every paramedic carries a stethoscope while they work. Trust us, it won’t take long for you to feel naked at work without one.

Effective listening is effective healthcare. A stethoscope lets you listen to the heart, lungs, and intestines during a patient’s physical examination. Choosing the right stethoscope is often a matter of taste. Comfort, durability, and sound quality are all that matter.

Penlight

Stethoscope for listening, penlight for viewing. Examining a patient’s pupils, whether they’re conscious or not, is vital to understanding what’s wrong. Penlights are also brilliant for when you need to check on a patient in the night but don’t want to wake other patients with the room lights.

Scissors

You could be dressing a patient’s burns or cutting open their shirt to reach a wound. Either way, you’ll need a reliable pair of scissors. Like most things in this guide, the criteria stay the same: durable, reliable, and comfortable to use.

Your Well-Being

With nursing, you’re in the business of caring. And the caring starts with yourself. Poor habits breed poor work, and in nursing, the stakes are too high for sloppy performance to become acceptable.

Food and Drink

When back-to-back shifts stand between you and your next real meal, snacks, and a water bottle are your best friends. Keep them somewhere accessible, as it’s unlikely you’ll be able to carry them with you the entire time. While healthy snacks are best, don’t discount the power of chocolate on staff morale. A sugar-hit can sometimes be just what the doctor ordered.

Watch

There’s a reason watches still exist: they’re handy and unobtrusive. In an environment where every second counts and deadlines can be just that, a watch helps you manage your shift effectively.

Different Nurses, Different Essentials

The items in this guide are non-negotiables. Every nurse needs them. That said, nursing is diverse like every other healthcare profession. Different nurses need different essentials. Keep this in mind. The difference between your night shift in the ER on the weekend and your afternoon shift in the pediatrics ward will be stark. Your essential kit must reflect this.

Remember, this is a brief guide designed to help you at the very start of your nursing career. Becoming a nurse means a professional life where the lessons never stop, and as you grow and develop, so will your essential item checklist. For now, our suggestions will aid those first steps.