What's In My White Coat

It has been forever since I posted about medical school. For a quick update, I am almost finished with third year (yay!), I *think* I know what field I want to go into (double yay!), and I passed step 1 USMLE and COMLEX, and my step 1 PE (all the yays!). After being on rotations for the better half of a year now, I have finally figured out my white coat "must haves." There are a few things I have tried, like a clip board and the Pocket Medicine book, that came highly recommended, but I just didn't find them too helpful.

Maxwell Quick Medical Reference: this book is tiny and fits perfectly in my breast pocket with all of my pens. It is a great reference for normal lab values, common EKG rhythms, ACLS algorithm, and so much more.

Online MedEd Quick Tables: This one is a new favorite, and I wish I had bought it earlier. This one is a littler larger/heavier, but worth its weight in gold. It is organized by specialty and within each specialty you will find common diagnoses. Each diagnosis is in a chart with the pathophysiology, patient presentation, diagnostic procedures, and treatment.

Lipstick: Funny story, so I had to empty my white coat pockets for an exam that I took a few months ago. When I laid all of my belongings onto the desk, the proctor laughed at me because I had about 5 tubes of lipstick and a couple chapsticks. You can never have too many options! haha I honestly have no clue how I ended up with that many in my pocket that day, but I do always keep a couple of lip colors and a chapstick in my white coat. My two favorite every day lip colors are this one and this one.

Hand Cream: Washing your hands all day every day can really take its toll on your skin. I am constantly putting lotion on. I love Eucerin because it is unscented, very moisturizing, and absorbs quickly. I recently fell in love with Peter Thomas Roth after staying at a hotel that carried the products. I love the tiny lotions from hotels :-) Perfect size for my purse or my white coat! I am not a big fan of strong fragrances and this lotion has a nice subtle scent. If I am wanting something scented on my hands, this is the one I use.

Stethoscope: Our class received stethoscopes at the beginning of first year, so this is the brand I have been using. It works great for what I need, but I have been eying this one after using it in a clinic I worked in a few months ago. I could hear EVERYTHING. It was amazing.

Pens: Every med student has their favorite pens, and we are very passionate about our favorite pens! haha My favorite are the Pilot G2 pens. The clicking(?) pens are a must-have for me. Also, I have mastered how to get this ink out of my white coat after a few 'whoopsies.' Thank goodness of bleach pens!!

Pen Light: A good pen light is hard to find, y'all. This one came highly recommended, it is cheap, and comes in a 2-pack. A pen light is always good to have, but honestly, I use the flashlight on my phone most of the time.

What do you keep in your white coat?