It is a foregone conclusion that a nurse that is worth their salary has got a few things on their belt at all times. A few pairs of rubber gloves (just in case) at the ready are a hallmark of an experienced medical professional. And a decent clipboard with a few bits of medical references on it (such as a CM ruler, pupil gauge and blood pressure charts) can be as good as gold to folks in the nursing profession. And obviously, a proper stethoscope would be worth what you paid for it even if it cost ten times what they do. However, there is one tool out there that pretty much trumps the rest.

While you don’t necessarily need a masters degree in nursing to appreciate the complicated tools in the medical profession, one of the simplest ones is also one of the best for a lot of situations that you are inevitably going to find yourself getting into. If you have not yet guessed what we’re talking about, it’s simple, everyday medical scissors. Do you need to clip a baby’s umbilical cord? Snip! Do you need to handle removing a bandage, or resizing it? Snip, yet again. If there is ever a need to cut something (which only happens about ten times in a slow day), a good, sturdy pair of scissors are a godsend for you.

While there are bent ended scissors designed for getting underneath bandages easily, some of the most important features are the materials your scissors are made out of, and whether they have additional attachments to facilitate getting things done a bit more easily. Obviously, you are going to want your scissors to be made out of stainless steel, because there is no room for rust in medicine. And in some very convenient cases, there are attachments on scissors for operations like handling and unscrewing IV tubes.