I rattle when I walk (or, what’s in my scrubs pockets)

My beloved and I went out to dinner the other night. I was still in scrubs, so when the check came, I started searching various pockets for my wallet.

Beloved grew increasingly concerned and curious as I kept pulling bits and pieces out of my scrubs, until I finally just laid everything out on the table.

In the top pocket of my scrubs, I keep two pens and a penlight.

In the bottom right pocket, I have trauma shears, alcohol swabs, a packet of ancient but still fragrant fruit-flavored gum, tongue depressors and a cotton swab with a wooden handle, broken in half. We do a lot of cranial nerve testing in my unit.

In the bottom left pocket, I keep my personal cell phone.

In the large pocket on the right leg of my scrubs, I have a reflex hammer and tape measure. In the large pocket of the left leg, I usually have the hospital’s cell phone and the emergency response pager (both of which, magically, I had remembered to return before leaving work.)

In the smaller pocket on the left leg of my scrubs, I had an IV start kit, two saline flushes and three IV cannulas of varying sizes. I get called on to start tough IVs.

You’ll notice that I did not mention pulling my wallet out. Beloved ended up paying for dinner, though he did try to talk me into trading my stethoscope for burgers and drinks.

What’s in your scrubs pockets, fellow nurses?