Many nurses will tell you that there’s nothing that compares to a good medical bag. When you’re a student, you need a bag that can carry your notes, text books and some basic items. As a medical professional, you need a great bag to carry various medical tools and necessities. The best bags are all-purpose and can be molded to fit your specific nursing needs, whether you’re a student, home health nurse, EMT, or you work in the ICU.
There are a couple of things you should keep in mind to find the best nursing bag for you. These things include durability, organization, and comfort.
Best Bags for Nurses
Below are seven bags that have all the four attributes, have been tried and rated as the best bags for bag nurses.
1. ADC 1024 Nylon Medical Equipment Instrument Bag
The ADC 1024 Medical Bag is a great basic medical bag for nurses of all professional levels. The bag comes in black, blue, and red and has multiple pockets. It also has a shoulder strap as well as a handle for easy carrying.
The dimensions for this bag are 14” x 9 ½” x 6”. The size is quite small and hence you may not find the bag ideal if you carry a lot of items. In fact, on Amazon, the negative reviews about the bag are due to its size — many found that it was smaller than they envisioned.
However, most medical professionals and students find the bag to be the perfect size for their needs. Just be sure the dimensions make sense for your toting needs before purchase.
Primacare KB-RO74-R Trauma Bag
The Primacare trauma bag is a great option for many medical professions that require a sturdy on-the-go bag to carry small essentials. Its red color, reflective strips, and medical insignia make it easy to spot in a time sensitive situation.
The bag has handles and a shoulder strap for easy carrying and a ton of compartments for organizing your medical items. This bag’s measures 7” x 17” x 9”. Therefore, make sure the size will be adequate for the supplies you need to keep in the bag.
This bag can hold everything you need, including your stethoscopes, gauzes and bandages, and other basic medical items. However, it’s probably not large enough to hold every medical tool you have. For the price, it’s a great little medical bag to keep basic items.
Rothco EMT Bag
The Rothco EMT Bag is the catchall bag for all medical items. The bag measures 22” x 11” x 11 ½” and it has a white cross on top. It comes in blue or red and has eight pockets and pouches as well as a shoulder strap and handheld option.
Most nurses and nursing student love this bag for its many pockets and functions. However, a few have complained about the bag’s size and sturdiness of material — it is made out of canvas externally and vinyl internally.
The Rothco EMT can hold a variety of medical instruments and necessities as well as a laptop, books, and notes. Its size tends to make it be somewhere in the middle between a tote and a duffel. Therefore, the size can be too big for some people and too small for others. However, it’s a great bag for many nurse first responders that need a place to store a variety of medical items.
Nurse Mates Nursing Bag
Some bags are designed to be medical bags, others are meant for students, and some bags can easily be both. The Nurse Mates Nursing Bag is probably the best bag for both situations. The bag comes in a wide variety of amazing styles to fit any medical professional and measures 13” x 9” x 14”. With the health care field expected to grow at 19 percent, more than twice the national average, more nursing students will be spending late nights in school learning the ins and outs of the nursing profession. This bag is the perfect companion for them as students and as medical professionals.
The Nurse Mates is comfortable to carry and isn’t too large or bulky for nurses that don’t need a ton of room. It is just perfect enough for carrying the essentials.
Koi Accessories Nursing Bag
The Koi Accessories Nurse Bag is another highly versatile medical bag for students or professionals. The bag has a shoulder strap as well as a handle, pockets specifically designed for your BPC and stethoscope, and a variety of zippers and straps to keep all of your instruments. It can even fit notebooks and books for the nursing student.
The bag for nurses doesn’t seem bulky, but can hold nearly everything you could need in many situations. The bag’s measures 18” x 12” x 2” and even comes with a zippered pouch for storing liquids. This is a great bag for traveling nurses, home health nurses, students, or nurses that work in a clinic or hospital setting.
Arsenal 5244 First Responder Medical Supply Backpack
When you start searching, you will find so many bags for medical professionals. If you’re an EMT, volunteer firefighter, medical air ambulance attendant, or another medical professional on the move or working in a fast paced environment, this first responder backpack might fit your needs better than other types of totes.
The Arsenal First Responder bag is durable, has many pockets, is highly functional, and is easier to carry in first response situations. The bag measures 24” x 17” x 6” and is great for EMT students or working medical professionals. This is an extremely durable bag that has a spot for nearly every medical instrument you need to keep inside it.
NB: The bag is not fully stocked with the medical supplies you may need like some buyers think.
Hopkins Medical Products EZ View Med Bag
Another great bag for the student or the certified medical professional, the Hopkins Medical Med Bag is all-purpose and the perfect size for many different types of nurses. The bag has 20 zippered pockets and measures 14” x 11 ¾” x 8”. This is a prime bag for organizing medical supplies and even fold down compartments with see-through re-sealable storage pouches. There is also a zippered side pouch that is large enough to store a sharp container and meets the OSHA requirements of keeping it separate from the rest of the items in the bag.
The bag’s patients’ records pocket has lockable zippers as required by HIPAA. This is the bag of all bags for many nurses and students alike.
Whether you’re a student learning how to work within the medical field or are a professional already in the workforce, there is a medical bag out there for you. Some bags are designed for keeping a few medical essentials while others can carry a variety of first response tools. Still, there are others made to fit the essentials of a student.
The best tote bag for nurses is one that is durable, has many pockets, is of the right size, and makes life easier for the medical professional or student carrying it. Each of the bags above serves its own purpose and you are bound to find right bag for you on this list.