Rachel Bate, GP Trainee, Clevedon Medical Centre 
Save time and money with a new approach to medical equipment...
I am a GP trainee (ST3) and decided it was time to invest in some medical equipment but the traditional doctor’s bag didn’t seem to be practical for my home visits. I do some by bike so wanted a medical bag that I could easily carry whilst looking professional enough. Inspired by another GP I looked for camera backpacks online but they were all quite expensive and didn’t seem to have the pockets that I thought would be useful for specimen tubes/dipsticks/BP cuff etc. Nappy bags started to be “recommended” by the search engine and I found them to be much more suited for the task – I chose this one and it’s absolutely brilliant, even down to the baby changing mat that I nearly discarded but actually serves very well to lay out blood collecting kit in less sanitary conditions! I have already found having a better organised bag time-saving and it’s washable so more health and safety-friendly too.
A dermatoscope had also been on my wish list but at a couple of hundred pounds a go I was reluctant to buy one and was relieved to hear that a colleague had started using a cheap jeweller’s loupe instead. I followed suit and found one with 40x magnification (better than the cheaper dermatoscopes) and a built in LED light, which cost under £7. It’s small (25mm) and you can’t measure lesions with it, but it’s definitely helpful in providing a lot more detail. I am yet to see whether it has any impact on my referrals but I’m much more excited about looking at moles now!
