- Cap: to be worn if it is a) sunny or b) my hair is pointing every which way and it just won't listen to it's master (me)
- White T-shirt: for those chilly nights (and winter days), worn under my
- Shirt: meticulously ironed, you could slice bread with the crease on the sleeves
- Left shirt pocket: contains two pens (how often do you give someone a pen...and then you're stuck with nothing) and patient detail forms - for relatives on scene to fill out addresses, phone numbers, medical history etc. Also my namebadge is attached.
- Right shirt pocket has my penlight (to check pupils for reaction and maybe nystagmus). I've also got a little drug wheel with our current drugs and doses. Then a little booklet with extra info (mass casualty help, burns rule of nines, drug indication and contraindications, paedoayric tips and apgar). Plus a little notebook.
- Jumper, to be worn if cold, has a pocket on the sleeve for one to two pens and maybe a penlight.
- Further down the line we've got my bellybutton, which always has a bit of fluff in it, just in case you need a bit of padding, or a pillow for you dear insect friend.
- Moving right along, my belt has a 3 compartment pouch, which houses a pair of trauma shears (excellent for cutting clothes and bandages). Next to it a mini maglight, a permanent marker and a whiteboard marker (writing things on the windscreen, like stock to be replaced in van, obscenities on other crews trucks...) and two pairs or disposable gloves.
- Right hip has a maglite belt loop for the big long maglight. Normally though I just clip the van keys to it (even if we are attending that day we have a set of van keys on us). Around that is a roll of micropore tape, always comes in handy.
- My right trouser pocket stays empty, my fingers are usually housed there when I am pretending to look cool. Actually, the van mobile phone lives there. And the van keys hang there - I hate dangling keys, it gives off the impression of "look at me I'm important".
- left trouser pocket is the rubbish bin, I hate to leave my scene untidy.
- left bum pocket houses my personal phone and my iPod touch (with an offline Wikipedia database - very handy!)
- right bum pocket has my wallet and my home keys, which are kept in place via a lanyard that loops around my belt.
Unfortunately we don't have cargo pants. Two extra pockets would be awesome, I'd rather have my bum pockets clear.
All this seems a lot, but I use it. Gotta be prepared.
In a next post I'll write what else I carry with me in the van.
What do you carry on you during work? Even if you don't work on an ambulance - I'd be thrilled to know!
