Nurse fob watches

Why healthcare staff wear their watch on the chest

Standard hygiene precautions do not permit watches or jewellery below the elbow in clinical work: the forearms must be bare so that hand disinfection reaches all the way. At the same time you need the time constantly — for observations, for documentation, for times that must be correct in the patient record. The nurse fob watch solves both by moving the watch up to the chest or pocket, where it can be read at a glance and does not touch the patient.

That is why it is one of the most common first purchases for nursing students, and one of the gifts that actually gets used. It is personal equipment: it goes with you between wards and employers.

Colour or figure

The plain colours are the discreet choice and what most people wear on an adult ward. The figure models — wings, scrub cap, thumbs up — belong where the small detail helps in the encounter, for example in paediatric care, or where you simply want it to be clear that the watch is yours and not the ward's.

Details on the dial and functions are on each product page. If you need to count breaths or pulse, it is worth checking how the seconds are shown before choosing a model — that is the single detail that determines whether the watch is good enough for observations or only for keeping track of the ward round.

Two more things are worth considering before you order. The watch is taken off and put on at every shift and every change of clothes, so the attachment is the part that wears out first. And it must be readable quickly, with a glance down at the chest, often with your hands full — which is why a clear dial is worth more than many functions.

The rest of what you carry during a shift is under personal equipment: scrub caps, compression socks, badge holders and name badges.