9 Essential School Supplies Every Nursing Student Needs

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If you’ve been a Type-A student since high-school, then you’re probably already equipped with most of these school supplies. I haven’t always been so organized. I had the mindset of a Type-A person back in my high school days, but just hadn’t found a system that worked for me.

Once I began going to college my organizational skills became a little more, well….organized I supposed you could say. As well as my over all sensibility of picking supplies that would be beneficial.

I don’t know about you, but school shopping has always been one of my favorite yearly activities, since I was a child. Consider this blog post your nursing school shopping hub. I’m going to tell you about all of the best nursing school supplies that I love and trust. Including links to where you can buy them before your semester begins. Happy shopping!

A Good Planner to Keep Track of Everything

In the past few years, planners have become a hot commodity. Now, there’s a planner out there for just about anything you can imagine. Or a YouTube tutorial on how to create an amazing planner that tracks every single thing you do every day. Finding the right planner for YOU is the key. A good planner is definitely one of the more important nursing school supplies to have.

I’ve used those fancy-shmancy planners, like this one by Clever Fox, that track daily habits like working out and drinking water. Or are broken down by day or even down to the hour. It’s one of the best ones out there, according to their 24,000+ positive reviews! My mother in law also uses one of their many planners and has only had good things to say about it.

If that works for you and the way you want to plan you day, GREAT. Seriously, more power to you if you can keep up with a planner like that. I wish I was that disciplined when it comes to keeping track of myself with a planner. I’ve found that I tend to stay more organized, and less overwhelmed when I use a planner that includes a monthly spread like this one here by Blue Sky.

My current Blue Sky planner has both weekly and monthly pages, which I’ve found I enjoy having. It also has a handy “notes” section in the back for keeping important information in order as well as providing a place for me to jot down thoughts when they float through my head.

For me, I like to use the one with just the monthly spread. Unless of course, I am anticipating an action packed semester. Seeing the whole month at a glance just works better for me. Which is exactly my point: Find what kind of planner works best for you.

Colorful Pens and Highlighters to Make Note Taking Enjoyable

Okay, so now you have the planner. Now you need the writing utensils. Having colorful pens and highlighters are great for writing in your planner, writing your notes ou take during a lecture, and especially great to use after graduation.

Pens and highlighters are two of the top essential tools for your practice as a nurse. Right after having a good stethoscope.

The highlighters that I absolutely loved to use in class are the Sharpie Clear View highlighters. These fancy little highlighters have a clear space just below the tip so that you can stop highlighting before you go little too far. Keeping all of your notes nice and neat and pretty. There are a few different pens that I loved to use for note taking in class, but the Paper Mate Ink Joy 0.5 gel pens definitely take the cake.

A Backpack that Won’t Break Your Back

Take it from me. You’re going to want to start protecting your back much sooner than later. It’s as though nursing schools know that the students don’t have much time to hit the gym between study sessions. So they give us 30+ pounds of text books to haul round instead.

I found this amazing backpack with wheels online, and have ZERO regrets with this purchase. I’ve even continued using it long after graduation. It comes in handy for traveling!

A Good Stethoscope: Invest in Your Future Career

I can’t stress this enough. Invest in your nursing career!

Nursing school was probably one of the biggest investments of time and money you’ve made in your life so far. Through nursing school I used the Littman Classic III, and once I graduated I was gifted a Littman Cardiology IV. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this stethoscope is worth every penny.

Penlight and Bandage Scissors: Underrated Nursing Supplies

No matter what kind of unit you work on, you’re going to want to have a penlight or any other sort of medical flash light available to use. I currently work on a pulmonary unit, and have still needed a flash light on occasion.

As a nursing student, you will of course need this piece of equipment. But consider buying things that you can use in your practice after graduation. Like this awesome flashlight that can clip onto your badge or stethoscope (if you keep it around your neck most fo the time).

Foldable Nursing Clipboard to Keep in your Pocket

Last, but not least, one of my favorite supplies that I purchased during nursing school: a foldable clip board.

The one that I got was made for nurses, specifically. It has TONS of helpful information printed on the outside of it. The best part is (in my opinion) that they come in so many different colors. Helpful information like lab values, intramuscular injection sits, and so much more.

Not only is this thing a great cheat sheet, but it also fits perfectly into most scrub top pocket and lab coat pockets. I speak in present tense about this foldable clipboard because I still use it at work to this day!

A few other things that I used during nursing school include this amazing laptop and these noise canceling headphones. Both of which I consider to be essential, but are totally optional depending on your personal tech wants/needs.

Well that about sums up my nursing school shopping supply list. There are plenty of other supplies that you can get that would be useful in nursing school, but sometimes these are unexpected finds that no one else has thought of yet!

Do you use something for nursing school that you’ve found to be super helpful, that isn’t listed here? I’d love to hear about it and maybe ever try it for myself! 😉