This is so true. I didn’t realize how important pens were going to be when I entered the medical field, and now I am sort of fixated on them.
Today, in fact, I was teaching a CPR class and needed to provide a pen for people to sign the attendance sheet. The only one I had in my purse was a high-quality one. I lent it out, but only after announcing to the whole class that it was mine and nobody better steal it.
Usually I do employ the Sacrificial Pen strategy Michelle describes - pharma pens are great for this but I actually bought a pack of Bic pens to “lend” as well. Hey, my pens cost a dollar apiece! (As I tell people whenever I’m forced to lend out a good one.)
My current favorite pen:
The only drawback is that I currently only have the 0.7mm size and I really like 0.5mm better.
My previous favorite was a very popular one, the Pilot G2:
On one rotation, it turned out my attending had the same preference - he saw my pen in my pocket and accused me of stealing his! Luckily mine were 0.5mm and his were 0.7mm so we could keep them straight.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I landed serendipitously on this blog (via r. balko) and this post caught my attention, because a) the signo is my current favorite pen; b) the G-2 was my previous favorite (I still have a few leftovers). But, I should add that the 0.7mm beats the 0.5mm.