Tissue

In medicine, its always a good idea to carry a packet of tissue paper. For me, I believe it is as important as the stethoscope. This is my rationale:

The item is essential in the wards or out-patient clinics, since the hospital tends to have very cool A/C, increasing the chance of having runny nose. To make things worse, I'm stuck with chronic allergic rhinitis, hence I try to avoid having thick mucoid secretions all over my face during an examination or a case presentation (that would not be very professional).

Furthermore, it is very useful in clinical scenarios. I often find myself in situations where the patient or their relatives are crying, especially during my clerkship in Oncology and Psychiatry. Most of the time, my inadequate EQ and counselling experience renders me nervously silent. The good news is - handing over a piece of tissue paper in these situations would do the magic.

This is what I learnt most from Clinical Oncology in year 3.