Essentials of a Nursing Kit: What Every Nurse Should Have
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, there are roughly 4.7 million registered nurses across the United States. Nursing has become one of the fastest-growing professions in the country because it offers incredible job security, benefits, and a chance to help people.
Nurses have the unique opportunity to work in various fields of medicine because they must assist doctors in treating patients suffering from varying health conditions and injuries. Because of this, every nurse needs to possess a special nursing kit filled with essential tools and supplies for treating all kinds of patients.
Of course, not all nursing kits are going to be the same. It all depends on which type of medical facility the nurses work in and the kind of patients who come to the facility for treatment. Typically, however, the most essential items in a nursing kit will include:
- Stethoscope
- Scissors
- Blood Pressure Cuff
- Thermometer
- Penlight
- Goggles
- Bandage
- Compression Socks
- Badge Holder
- Comfortable Footwear
- Face Mask
- Hand Sanitizer
These medical items are essential for nurses to always have in their nursing kits. Additional items may be suitable for custom nursing kits depending on the medical situation. At Pristine Medical, you can purchase nursing kits suitable for specific treatment types. These nursing kits include the following:
- IV Maintenance Kit
- Health Assessment Kit
- IV Insertion Kit
- IM & SC Kit
- Foley Catheter Kit
- Wound Care Kit
- Ostomy Kit
- Nasogastric Kit
You can fully customize your medical kits to include other essential medical items your nursing students may need.
A Review of the Top 17 Essential Items
No matter which type of nursing kit you select, you should still stock it with some essential items that most nurses will need for various reasons. Some items are universal in the healthcare field because they can help treat basic health issues stemming from more severe health conditions.
Let’s review the top 17 essential items every nurse should have in their nursing kit.
1) Stethoscope
Perhaps the most critical piece of equipment is the stethoscope. Doctors and nurses use stethoscopes to listen to patient heartbeats and other internal sounds. Listening to these sounds can help nurses and doctors assess a patient’s current health condition or status. Regardless of the medical setting, having a stethoscope handy for diagnosing patients is necessary before treating them.
2) Scissors
Medical scissors are a pair of small, sharp scissors used for conducting various medical tasks, such as removing the clothing of an injured patient or cutting off bandages and casting material. The scissors should not be lengthy, but make sure they are short and sharp. Keep the scissors in a holster or case designed to fit them. That way, you can keep the scissor blades protected and uncontaminated from other elements in the kit.
3) Blood Pressure Cuff
A blood pressure cuff is a device for measuring and monitoring blood pressure levels. Blood pressure monitoring is as important as heart monitoring in the healthcare industry. Measuring blood pressure levels can tell much about a patient’s health risk and cardiovascular health status. Stainless steel blood pressure cuffs are the most accurate, reliable, and durable.
4) Thermometer
Measuring a patient’s internal temperature is one of the most common things a nurse will do before the patient sees the doctor. A thermometer is the device used to perform this task. The nurse puts it under the patient’s tongue and leaves it there for a few seconds to get an accurate reading of their internal temperature. Every nurse should have a spare thermometer in their kit.
5) Penlight
A penlight is a small cylindrical device used to conduct preliminary examinations. Nurses use penlights to shine a light to inspect wounds, eye pupils, and other body parts. We recommend retractable penlights to make them easier to store in nursing kits. And if you can find one with a pupil gauge feature, that would be even better.
6) Goggles
The importance of protecting and shielding the eyes goes without saying. Nurses should have extra goggles in their nursing kits in case they need to shield their eyes from potentially infectious viral particles or toxic materials or equipment. Some nurses even feel more comfortable wearing face shields.
7) Bandages
You never know when a nurse will need extra bandages to wrap an injured patient to prevent infection and control their bleeding. Medical bandages are typically made of woven fabric, cloth, or plastic to ensure wounds are covered and bleeding remains contained. If the medical bandages have an official medical seal of approval, they should be suitable for use in a medical setting.
8) Compression Socks
Compression socks are different from ordinary socks. They are unique socks designed to increase leg circulation so that nurses don’t experience leg fatigue throughout the day. Their breathable fabric contains a compression element to improve blood flow throughout the leg, which is perfect when working long hours.
9) Badge Holder
Nurses must bring their access cards and personal identification to work every day. A badge holder allows nurses to secure their identification cards in a durable holder with an attachment mechanism. The mechanism makes it easy for nurses to attach the holder to their shirts, which can be visible to everyone as they move around the healthcare facility.
10) Comfortable Footwear
Nurses stand and move on their feet for several hours per day. If nurses don’t have comfortable footwear in their kits, they could develop foot sores, pains, and other issues that will lower their productivity. Good quality footwear will ensure that nurses stay comfortable on their feet, which can reduce fatigue symptoms. Look for footwear with extra cushion material in the insoles.
11) Face Mask
A face mask shields a nurse’s face from transmitting airborne germs and viral particles to patients and blocks them from being transmitted to the nurse from the patient. Your kits should contain a high-quality face mask made with several layers and approved by an official medical association. Since the recent COVID-19 pandemic, you are probably already familiar with choosing a good face mask.
12) Hand Sanitizer
Nurses must grow accustomed to constantly washing and sanitizing their hands to prevent the spread of germs in a healthcare work environment. With all the different patients entering a healthcare facility, it would be easy for nurses to spread germs and cause infections if they don’t sanitize their hands after treating each patient.
13) Pulse Oximeter
Nurses regularly care for patients suffering from health conditions that impact their breathing and blood oxygen levels, such as asthma, anemia, heart disease, lung cancer, and pneumonia. Part of this care requires nurses to use a small pulse oximeter device to monitor their patients’ blood oxygen levels. If the saturation of oxygen in the blood is under 95%, it indicates a low blood oxygen level and a danger to the patient.
14) Disposable Gloves
Every nurse should have several disposable gloves in their nursing kit. They must be medical-grade gloves made of nitrile, latex, vinyl, or poly. Patients with allergies may have a negative reaction to latex, so consider an alternative material like nitrile or vinyl. Nurses must wear disposable gloves when administering treatments or medications to patients, especially when they involve handling blood, urine, or other liquids.
15) Syringes
Nurses must come equipped with an array of sterilized syringes and needles to inject medications and draw blood for patients. Some syringes are disposable, while others allow the needles to be attached and detached from the core base. Nurses who deliver home healthcare services will definitely need syringes available in their kits because they won’t be in a hospital or other clinical setting where they have access to a larger supply of them.
16) Antimicrobial Wipes
Nurses have a duty to clean and sanitize their hands, medical equipment, instruments, surfaces, and anything else exposed to patients because they want to prevent them from getting infected. That is why nurses should always carry around antimicrobial wipes in their kits. Antimicrobial wipes contain a special antibacterial solution to decontaminate surfaces and eliminate the bacteria and microbes on them. That will significantly reduce the risk of patients getting infected by bacteria harboring on the surfaces.
17) Safety Pins
Safety pins serve important purposes in healthcare. Nurses may want to stock their kits with extra safety pins to help secure bandages in place if there is a reasonable risk of them falling off. In extreme cases, safety pins can be used to close gaping wounds in the abdomen region to prevent fluid loss and infections.
The Different Types of Nursing Kits
Now, let’s discuss the different types of nursing kits and the unique items you will find in them that you might not find in other nursing kits. The best kit choice will depend on the type of nursing you plan to do.
IV Maintenance Kit
An IV maintenance kit comes equipped with essential items and accessories needed for administering intravenous-based care and treatment. Nurses must use IV lines to inject fluids into a patient’s veins to hydrate them or treat a particular health issue they have. You can use the IV maintenance kit to access the vital supplies needed for conducting IV-related tasks. These supplies include alcohol swabs, general-use syringes, extra needles, IV bags, cannula, secondary IV line, primary IV line, gauze, plastic vials, and surgical tape.
Health Assessment Kit
The health assessment kit is an assortment of nursing supplies, tools, and devices that help nurses evaluate the physical health of their patients. They are not officially diagnosing a particular health condition but rather assisting the doctor by checking the patient’s vital signs, blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, body temperature, and other preliminary health assessments. The items you may find in a health assessment kit include urine test strips, medical gloves, a digital weight scale, measuring tape, a penlight, a pulse oximeter, a thermometer, a stethoscope, an otoscope, and more.
IV Insertion Kit
The IV insertion kit gives nurses what they need to insert IV lines into a person’s vein and inject medication or other essential liquids into it. Some items you might find in an IV insertion kit include a tourniquet, alcohol swab, under pads, sterile nitrile exam gloves, catheter, saline-filled syringe, surgical tape, phlebotomy pad, and gauze. It would be wise for nurses to have both an IV insertion kit and an IV maintenance kit if their primary responsibilities revolve around IV-based treatments and care.
IM & SC Kit
Nurses can use IM & SC kits to access tools for administering intramuscular and subcutaneous injections. These injections are made under the innermost skin layers and muscles, so they require the best assortment of accessories to assist in this effort. The items in an IM & SC kit may include alcohol swabs, blunt fill needles, syringes w/ needles, insulin syringes, water plastic vials, distilled water ampoules, distilled water glass vials, and medical injection pads.
Foley Catheter Kit
Nurses use catheters to remove fluid from a patient’s bladder when they are unable to do it naturally. The Foley catheter kit is a rather simple kit that includes several catheters or flexible tubes to stick into a patient’s body cavity. Some kits may even come with a catheter tray as well.
Wound Care Kit
Nurses must care for patients’ wounds in all kinds of settings, such as emergency rooms, urgent care centers, and even when conducting home healthcare aid. That is why nurses should have access to wound care kits to respond to these emergencies. A wound care kit has surgical tape, nitrile exam gloves, underpads, medical dressing trays, gauze, backing strips, abdominal pads, staple removal devices, and wound closure strips.
Ostomy Kit
Some patients receive ostomies during surgical procedures to allow stool and urine to leave their body through an artificial opening that was made. The opening usually links to an ostomy bag or pouch that catches the stool and urine. Nurses must regularly replace or drain the bag for the patient after it gets full. An ostomy kit for nurses may feature a drainable pouch, ostomy flange, curved tail closure, adhesive remover wipes, skin protective wipes, and ostomy measuring tools.
Nasogastric Kit
Patients with gastrointestinal conditions may need nutrients or medication delivered directly into their stomachs. Nurses can use nasogastric kits to access the most essential tools for this task, including PVC flexible tubes, syringes, and lubricating jelly.