Decompression Session: Whats in Your Pocket?

Pocket talk: As a nurse, and especially a nurse in a hectic hospital or urgent-care nursing environment, pockets can be your best friends. Scrubs brands will often even name their different scrub styles by pocket quantity: from single pocket scrubs to 12-pocket sets. Your nursing specialization has a lot to do with how many pockets youll want.

The reason scrubs often have so many pockets is you really need them for work. Youve got to stash your pens, sanitizers, gauze, OTC meds youre a walking, working go bag who needs everything at arms reach to stay nimble and agile on shift.

So maybe some days all your pockets are spoken for. But if youve got a spare, why not designate it for yourself? Kind of like Me Time but in this case its a Me Pocket. We had a few ideas for what you might keep in that extra scrubs pocket for a little physical or emotional lift on shift.

  1. A Snack: Of course, nothing sticky or messy. An energy bar is an obvious choice, but if blood sugar is an issue you can opt to keep a few hard candies or small packets of crackers in case you need a little glucose fix to keep going.
  2. A Sentimental Object: This could be anything that brings you a little mood boost. Maybe its a picture of your daughter, or your dad, or your dog. Maybe its an ornament or a talisman associated with your faith. Perhaps its something as small as a worry doll so you have a little (literally) company when things get extra stressful.
  3. A Small Notebook: Not the kind you take rounds notes in this ones for you. Maybe you have a little spark of inspiration, an idea, or just a memory that youd forgotten and want to make sure you dont again. Youve already presumably got pens in another pocket. Nothing wrong with putting that pen to personal use on occasion. Sketching is also a good stress release and is believed to enhance your memory skills. If you prefer to think out loud, you can also get a small mini tape recorder (or just make voice memos on your phone).
  4. A Laugh: If you prefer your stress buster in the form of a gut buster, pick a bunch of quotes that delight you, write them down and fold them up. Before each shift, choose one at random and put it in a pocket. Then its there when you need to turn the frown upside down. We think this one by Dorothy Parker is pretty clever: Id rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

Were sure you have even more creative ideas and wed love to hear them. Join us on油看姻油and share!


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