Dom's Declassified Nursing School Survival Guide: 13 MUST HAVE Essentials for Every Nursing Stud

Soulful Endeavor
Aug 2, 2018
7 min read

Updated: May 21, 2019

Good Afternoon everyone..it's day 2/7! I decided this post would be a great kick off into the series, because school shopping can be a bit frustrating and you don't need every itty bitty thing that people say you would need for clinical; some things are honestly just unnecessary and I want you to shop smartly! So here are my 13 MUST HAVES for Nursing School; If you have questions feel free to leave a comment or send me a direct message through the contact portion of the blog. Enjoy! Xoxo.

1. GETCHU A PLANNER BOO.

This. Is. So. Important. I'm not saying this because I'm top 5 world's biggest OCD planner freaks in the entire country (but I am lolol). During your time as a Student Nurse, you will have assignments, check offs, exams, paperwork and practice lab on a weekly basis and somehow be expected to remember the 1,322,469,321 tasks you are supposed to fulfill per week. NOT POSSIBLE. You need a planner! It doesn't have to be anything fancy, though I do recommend that ladies look into TJ Maxx and Marshalls, because they have AMAZING planners for 10-15$. I personally have switched between Lilly Pulitzer and Erin Condren (both pretty much on the high end but I'm also obsessed w/ agendas), and I cannot function without my agenda at all. Amazon also has some pretty cool planners, including inexpensive leather back planners for my Male Nursing Students out there. This is honestly the key to success when trying to stay on top of everything you'll be doing in your program and I highly suggest you invest into a good agenda! (I'll leave some links to some of my favorites below) Also, for anyone who's super busy OUTSIDE of Nursing School and doesn't have time to write things down everyday, check out my personal blog The Best Digital Agenda App For Super Busy Bodies for my favorite digital agenda.

LILLY PULITZER AGENDA (24-35$)

ERIN CONDREN AGENDA (55-60$)

HAPPY PLANNER (20-25$)

DAY SPRING AGENDA (20-30$)

2. The Basics

Now I know I said "13 Essentials for Nursing School," but I may or may not have squeezed 5-6 subtopics under one category. (That's the thing about blogging though---I make the rules ;)

The "Basics" consist of pretty much everything you will need daily while you are in clinical. Each and every Nursing school differs in what they expect you to have with you for class/clinical, so I'll keep it as broad as I can and give y'all the run down on the basic supplies you'll need!

Firstly, you'll need your uniform (obvi). Usually the program you're in will give you a criteria of what scrub brand/lab coat/patches etc to get and can usually be found in your book store or through a website given by your dean. Your uniform also includes some quality walking shoes (whether they are white or black will vary per school). My program doesn't allow us to wear clogs, so I have a pair of all white leather Nike Airmax (you will typically need an ALL LEATHER shoe regardless) and they are absolutely AMAZING. You will be on your feet allllllllll the time in Nursing school so it's important to shop for comfort and not style (though with Nike Airmax you get the best of both).

I also want to add that a penlight and bandage scissors would be great to have. A penlight is literally a mini flashlight looking tool that looks like a pin, so you can look into your patients eyes, ears, nose, etc. This I would say is a MUST HAVE because you will use it every clinical to do your head to toe patient assessment; I still haven't ever used my bandage scissors, but I can imagine you'll need them at some point and every program is different; get them cheap from Amazon just to be sure.

3. A Second Hand Watch

Another important part of your getup will be a watch with a second hand. Click the link below to see the Casio white watch that I purchased from Amazon for only $20! You will need a watch with a second hand especially when taking vitals. I purchased an all white watch b/c it looks good with your white coat and shoes (if your clinical shoes have to be white). For anyone with an Apple Watch, I'm also thinking to invest because evidently it's extremely convenient in Nursing School and "all the cool kids have Apple Watches" l o l. If you don't need all the blingy flashy watches, I will link you my Casio watch link here.

4. Printer.

Don't depend on library printers for NAAAAATHANiel. Nam' thing. Not none. Because they will fail you. Your instructors will also fail you (literally). Home printing is convenient and many times absolutely the only way I have gotten assignments fulfilled (I also suggest getting an all in 1 printer so if you need to scan paperwork, you can!)

5. Colors!!!!!

What's life without a little color?! You need colorful sharpie markers, highlighters, pens, you name it! Go crazy!!! I can't tell you how boring it is looking at dull black and white lecture material all the time. I usually highlight key notes in my lecture material and rewrite them with different colors and even doodle on the long pages to keep my attention span in tact! My advice would be, though coloring is a great way to brighten up your notes, motivate you to study and help you stay organized, don't overdue it to the point your material looks like the front page of a coloring book. You don't want to stress yourself, so keep it fairly simple and add a little color into your notes, you'll thank me later!

6. CLICKY PENS!

This is self explanatory. You won't have time to de-cap pens allll day everyday when dealing with multiple patients when you're already running on E!

7. You will need a Stethoscope

Littmann is the very best company on my list of stethoscopes.

Stethescopes AND Sphygmomanometers (Blood pressure cuff) are VITAL (no pun intended) to have with you upon entering your first semester of nursing school, as you'll need them daily in the hospital (You typically only use manual BP cuffs the first semester, but unfortunately you'll need to buy one for the semester anyway). If you choose not to invest into a Littmann (though I would highly recommend it b/c they will last you forever and you can even pick out cute colors) there are cheaper alternatives that also work well and can be found on Amazon! Just be sure to read the reviews and make sure you know what you're paying for before purchasing these tools, you need for them to work properly if you're going to be assessing your patients with them! Click here to purchase my all black matte Littman Classic III Stethoscope.

8. NCLEX Book

This will help you thoroughly prepare for nursing school exams, and learn even further about overall patient assessments to better help you in clinical. Many professors pull questions straight from NCLEX practice tests, my favorite NCLEX book being Saunders (Click here for link).

9. Functional Laptop to take notes in class.

You won't have much time to write anything down, so opening power points in class and typing any extra information given is most ideal!

10. Small Notepad

This will save you a lot of floor walking in the hospital. I know everyone says you should get a clipboard as a nursing student blah blah blah...that's really unnecessary (coming from someone who bought the damn clipboard anyway and never uses it). Plus, once you're done with first semester nursing school if you're still prancing the floor with a clipboard at hand I can guarantee you're being talked about lol. A small notepad is ideal for any assessment findings that are new during your time in clinical, and a lot less of a burden to carry around and deal with in patient rooms (no patient really enjoys seeing a student nurse with a huge clipboard---they usually assume something has to be wrong otherwise why else would you be jotting down their every move lol).

11. Supportive Book bag and/or Clinical Bag.

Textbooks absolutely suck. No, you won't have to carry them all daily (hopefully not) but yes, there will be times you have to drag yourself to the library and you need some support on your back because your arms can't handle the wrath of nursing school textbook weight. I love The North Face bags, they're super supportive and padded so that I barely feel like I'm carrying anything. I spent $90 on my North Face Book bag, but you can find less expensive ones on Amazon than mine for sure! As far as clinical bags go, everyone is different! I personally brought my book bag to clinical with me, but if you want something light weight and easy to tote your clinical belongings around in, I suggest purchasing one for under $40 on Amazon (click here for a direct link to clinical bags!) Again, the tote is completely to your discretion, but the comfortable book bag for your textbooks is a MUST.

12. Coffee Maker

As if I really need to explain this. Coffee to a Nursing Student is like crack to a feign. We NEED CAFFEINE TO FUNCTION. I'm very holistic about what I put in my body, and I invested in a keurig to make my specific coffee and/or tea to keep me energized throughout the day! You absolutley need this, otherwise you will either 1. Go broke at Starbucks/CC's or 2. Find yourself losing all aspects and dimensions of your own sanity R/T fatigue S/T Nursing school stress (upper level nursing majors will understand this).

13. Lunch Kit!

Pretty much like coffee we need food to survive as well l o l. Spending money on fast food is very easy to do in the program, but not ideal for your piggy bank. Save your coins and pack lunch ahead of time! (Also pack you some water, stay hydrated!) You can find a really cute lunch box or a meal prep lunch kit like the one above on Amazon or a discount store i.e. Marshalls for super cheap!

In no specific order, these are the most important items you should ALWAYS have with you or use regularly in your nursing student life. Everything else are "extras."

How you organize your notes/study material is also to your discretion, but I'll be sharing what it is I have done to organize my notes later in the series (:

These 13 items have made my life a hell of a lot easier, and keep me as minimalistic as a student nurse can possibly get. I highly recommend sticking to Amazon and discounted item stores i.e. Marshall, TJ Maxx, Burlington, Ross for your nursing school needs. Anything that can't be bought for cheaper you'll have to pay more for, but shop smart!

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