Essential Supplies Every First-Year Nursing Student Needs

First-year nursing students are going to feel more stress than any other nursing student because of all the uncertainty and inexperience they have. That is why first-year students may feel the need to purchase several different nursing supplies to ensure they are ready to start their nursing program.

However, the reality is that a first-year nursing student only needs to focus on obtaining the essential supplies that nursing students need to learn how to become nurses in a realistic clinical setting. Here are the top 7 must-have items that all new nursing students will need to help them get started:

1) Scrubs

Every nurse must wear a particular medical uniform known as scrubs when on the job. Scrubs are special sanitary clothing worn against the body to protect healthcare professionals from potentially infectious fluids, such as blood, urine, and saliva. Nursing students need to get into the habit of wearing scrubs because that is what the nursing profession will require of them.

Scrubs typically come available in four different colors, including pink, teal, navy blue, and Ciel blue. Nursing schools may have a particular color preference, but it does not influence the safety level of the uniform. Just having a couple of sets of scrubs available is all that any nursing student needs, regardless of the color. Each scrub uniform will usually feature two side pockets, insight motion fabric, two patch pockets, and two shaped shoulder seams.

2) Stethoscopes

Stethoscopes are among the most common medical tools used by healthcare professionals, including nurses and doctors. They allow them to listen to various bodily sounds to determine a patient's current state of health.

For instance, a healthcare professional will use a stethoscope to listen to a patient’s heart sounds and breathing sounds to see if they detect abnormal heart rates, heart murmurs, or abnormal breathing. Of course, a doctor is the only one who can give an official medical diagnosis. Still, a nurse usually conducts the preliminary examination with a stethoscope to prepare the doctor beforehand.

Nursing students must grow accustomed to using stethoscopes because they are an essential tool during every patient examination. Fortunately, they are one of the easiest tools to learn how to use without requiring an advanced medical degree.

3) Medical Textbooks

Nursing schools may have slightly different preferences regarding which medical textbooks they want their nursing students to read and have available to them. Generally, nursing students will need medical textbooks as quick references for how to perform certain essential nursing tasks.

For instance, a 2025 Nursing Drug Guide is a helpful handbook for nursing students to have on hand because they will need to practice administering medication to patients regularly. The drug guide features all the critical drug information about various medications, such as dosage amounts, when to administer, and how to administer.

Some other helpful medical textbooks for nursing students are a lab test handbook and a nursing diagnosis handbook. The lab test handbook can help nursing students interpret and communicate a patient’s lab test results, and the nursing diagnosis handbook can help them develop appropriate care plans for patients.

4) Organizational Tools

Nursing students must learn how to stay organized because great nurses need to be organized to succeed at their jobs. Since nurses often work in fast-paced medical environments with several different patients at a time, they need to organize themselves for the benefit of their patients.

Some examples of organizational tools for nurses include planners and calendars, task management apps, notepads, clipboards, pocket organizers, badge holders, utility belts, laminated medical reference cards, and binders with tabs. These small items can help nurses keep track of patient treatments, schedules, and other responsibilities.

5) Hand Sanitizer

Nurses and other medical professionals must frequently sanitize their hands throughout the day to protect themselves and their patients from spreading germs and bacteria. They usually do this after they touch or treat a patient with their hands in some way. The sanitizer has a special solution formulated to destroy germs and bacteria within a few seconds.

Nursing students should have a bottle of hand sanitizer on standby. It will help them get into the habit of sanitizing their hands with the cream or gel solution in the bottle after working with patients. Some hand sanitizers also have aloe moisturizing ingredients included to keep the students’ hands soft and smooth without any dryness or stickiness.

6) Blood Pressure Cuff

Nurses must test a patient’s blood pressure as often as they must listen to their heart with a stethoscope. For this reason, nursing students will need a blood pressure cuff in their inventory to practice testing people’s blood pressure, whether in class or out of class. Since it takes time and skill to conduct accurate blood pressure tests, a nursing student should be using the blood pressure cuff almost every day to get better at it.

Blood pressure cuffs are typically one size fits all. You just wrap the inflatable Velcro cuff around the patient’s upper arm and then rapidly squeeze the pump to inflate it with air. The most difficult part for a nursing student is knowing when to stop pumping, which is usually when the gauge shows it at nearly 30 points higher than the suspected systolic pressure of the patient.

7) Clinical Nursing Bag

A clinical bag is a specially designed handbag suitable for nurses and nursing students to carry all their essential supplies. Students can easily use these bags to carry their stethoscopes, organizational tools, handbooks, and other clinical tools they might need readily available.

Nursing bags come in all different shapes and sizes. In most cases, they are smaller tote bags with only enough room for the most critical nursing tools that nurses would need to examine and treat patients quickly. Nursing students and educators can choose the most appropriately sized clinical bag for the lessons taught.

Find High-Quality Nursing Supplies

Pristine Medical is the premier source of high-quality nursing and medical supplies in North America. It offers a wide range of essential nursing supplies and tools to accommodate the needs of every nursing student. Just pick and choose the best supplies necessary for your nursing program.