Stocking your new hospital

Article

This checklist covers almost everything you'll need to make opening day a success. There's even a printable PDF!

To download a PDF version of this checklist, click here.

Jump to:Waiting room | Front office | Bathroom | Employee lounge | Doctor's office | Comfort or consultation room | Exam rooms | Treatment area, pack prep, and lab | Surgery | Hospital ward | Pharmacy | Other furnishings/equipment | Office supplies | Printed materials | Clinic supplies

Furnishings and equipment

Waiting room

  • Chairs or benches

  • Brochure display stand

  • Table lamps

  • End tables

  • Wastebasket

  • Recycle bins

  • Books for kids

  • Magazines and magazine rack

  • Computer with patient education CD-ROM

  • Coffee station

  • Printer for informational handouts

  • Client education handouts

  • Computer table

  • Workstation chair

  • Courtesy phone

  • Artwork

  • Plants

  • Water cooler

  • Air purifier

Front office

  • Chairs

  • Clock

  • Computers (minimum of two)

  • Printer, copier, scanner, and fax machine

  • Toner cartridges for copier and fax machine

  • Credit card machine

  • Paper rolls for credit card machine

  • Paper shredder

  • Phones

  • Phone books

  • Appointment book or scheduling software

  • Business card holder

  • Calculators

  • Clipboards

  • Pencils

  • Electric pencil sharpener

  • Pens

  • Two- and three-hole punch

  • Postage stamps or meter

  • Boxes of tissues

  • Petty cash box

  • Locking drawer for each person who handles cash

  • Fire extinguisher

  • Wastebasket

  • Recycle bins

Bathroom

  • Paper towels

  • Towel dispenser

  • Soap

  • Soap dispenser

  • Toilet paper

  • Toilet brush

Employee lounge

  • Chairs

  • Table

  • Wastebasket

  • Recycle bins

  • Microwave oven

  • Coffeemaker

  • Water cooler

  • Refrigerator

  • Coat rack

Doctor?s office

  • Desk with locking drawer

  • Pens

  • Pencils

  • Desk lamp

  • Executive desk chair

  • Side chairs

  • Paging equipment

  • Computer equipped with practice management software

  • Printer

  • File cabinet

  • Bookcases

  • Coat hook for door

  • Fire safe or fireproof cabinet

  • Pictures

  • Plants

  • Wastebasket

  • Recycle bins

Comfort or consultation room

  • Sofa

  • End tables

  • Educational videos or DVDs

  • Reading material

  • Bookshelf

  • Television and DVD player

  • Boxes of tissues

  • Lamps

Exam rooms

  • Desktop computer central to all exam rooms

  • Exam tables

  • Rolling chairs or stools

  • Side chairs

  • Dog treats

  • Magazines

  • Cabinets

  • Waste receptacles

  • Chart holders

  • Sharps containers

  • Nail trimmers

  • Stethoscopes

  • Styptic powder or pencils

  • Reflex hammer

  • Eye wash

  • Cotton-tip applicators

  • Assorted gauze

  • Alcohol

  • Lubricating jelly

  • Storage jars

  • Gloves

  • Feline scale

  • Small exotics or gram scale

  • Otoscope

  • Otoscope cones

  • Ophthalmoscope

  • Indirect viewing lens

  • Radiography view box

  • Exam lights

  • Binocular head loupe magnifier

  • Thermometers

  • Video otoscope

  • Schirmer tear tests

  • Fluorescein dye

  • Assorted syringes

  • Penlights

  • Anatomic models and posters

Treatment area, pack prep, and lab

  • Rolling stools

  • Side chairs

  • Refrigerator for samples

  • Walk-on scale

  • Wet table

  • Waste disposal container (general)

  • Waste disposal container

  • (infectious)

  • Dental unit'scaler, drill, polisher

  • Dental instruments and supplies

  • Safety goggles

  • Endoscope and supplies

  • Blood pressure monitor

  • Portable O2 unit

  • Electrocardiograph

  • Test tube rack

  • Hematology, chemistry, and coagulation analyzers

  • Centrifuge

  • Hemocytometer

  • Unopettes

  • Manual cell counter

  • Calculator

  • Timer

  • Ultrasound machine and supplies

  • Refractometer

  • Glucometer

  • Radiography machine and film cassettes or digital radiography equipment

  • Lead gloves and aprons

  • Patient positioning devices

  • Radiograph developing supplies

  • Gloves

  • Masks

  • First aid kit

  • Crash cart

  • Resuscitation bag

  • Clippers

  • Tonometer

  • Ear lavage equipment

  • Tongue depressors

  • Thermometers

  • Splinting equipment

  • Culture media

  • Diagnostic reagent strips

  • Microscope

  • Microscope slides, coverslips, stains, and holders

  • Bacterial incubator

  • Inoculation loops

  • Lab mailing supplies

  • Sterility indicators

  • Laryngoscopes

  • Biopsy jars

  • Formalin

  • Ethylene glycol test kit

  • FeLV/FIV test kits

  • Heartworm tests

  • Elizabethan collars

  • Muzzles

  • Autoclave and trays

  • Autoclave tape

  • Ultrasonic cleaner

  • Endotracheal tubes, stylets, and cleaning brush

  • Endotracheal tube rack

  • Feeding tubes

  • Chest tubes

  • Tracheostomy tubes

  • Stomach tubes

  • Stomach tube speculum

  • IV fluid warmer

  • IV poles and stands

  • Fecalizer, centrifuge, and flotation solution

  • Fecal loops, sample collection containers

  • Nonabsorbent cat litter

  • Urine collection containers

  • Activated charcoal

  • Gastric lavage supplies

  • Barium

  • Wood?s lamp

  • Surgical pack wraps

  • Surgical caps, masks, gowns, and gloves

  • Disinfectants

  • Surgical scrub brushes and soak trays

  • Surgical instrument cleaner

  • Suture scissors

  • Staple removal forceps

  • Vaginal speculum

Surgery

  • Surgical blades

  • Surgical instruments

  • Scrub sink

  • Surgical drapes and towels

  • Heated surgery table

  • Surgical ties

  • Portable suction unit

  • Suction hoses and tips

  • Crash cart

  • Electrocardiograph

  • Water-circulating or forced-air heating blankets

  • SpO2 pulse oximeter

  • ETCO2 monitor

  • Body temperature monitor

  • Blood pressure monitor

  • Suture material and needles

  • Tissue adhesive

  • Skin stapler

  • Esophageal stethoscopes

  • Anesthesia machine and supplies

  • Respirometer

  • Anesthesia masks

  • Waste gas evacuation system

  • Infusion pumps

  • Syringe pump

  • Induction chamber

  • Mayo stand

  • Surgical lights

  • Lacrimal cannulas

  • Cautery unit

  • CO2 surgical laser

  • Radiosurgical unit

Hospital ward

  • Nasal oxygen cannula, oxygen hood, humidifier, or oxygen cage

  • Oxygen flowmeter

  • Water-circulating or forced-air heating blankets

  • Towels

  • Nebulizer

  • Incubator

  • Cages

  • Litter pans

  • Food and water bowls

  • Washer and dryer

  • Grooming tub and dryer

  • Towels and blankets

  • Catch pole

  • Restraint bags or cages

Pharmacy

  • Pill splitters

  • Alcohol containers to hold pill splitters

  • Pill counting trays

  • Pill crusher

  • Prescription labels and printer

  • Vials and bottles

  • Pill guns

Other furnishings/equipment

  • Cleaning supplies for entire clinic

  • Controlled substance safe

  • Security system

  • Vacuum cleaner

Office supplies

  • File folders

  • File folder labels, white

  • Label maker

  • Alphabetical or numerical tabs and year tabs

  • "Pay at time of service" sign

  • "Returned check policy" sign

  • Phone message pads

  • Scratch pads

  • Standard-lined note pads

  • Binders

  • Sticky notes, large and small

  • Cellophane tape

  • Packing tape

  • Staplers

  • Paper clips, large and small

  • Copier paper

  • Scissors

  • Glue sticks

  • Desk calendars

  • Pens

  • Pencils

  • Highlighters

  • Erasers

  • Dictionary

  • Medical dictionary

  • Medical and surgery reference library

  • Vertical chart holders

  • Large manila envelopes

  • Letter envelopes

  • Large rubber bands

  • Return-address stamp

  • Desk organizers

  • "In" and "out" bins

  • Time cards/clock or computerized version

Printed materials

  • Letterhead stationery

  • Letterhead envelopes

  • Business cards

  • Thank-you notes

  • Practice brochure

  • Promotional materials

  • New patient information forms

  • New patient medical history forms

  • Prescription pads

Clinic supplies

  • Insulin syringes

  • Syringes (1, 3, 6, 12, 20, and 60 cc, plus 60 cc with catheter tip)

  • Needles (25, 22, 20, and 18 gauge)

  • Intraosseous needles

  • Spinal needles

  • Various biopsy needles

  • Stick pole syringe

  • Skin punch biopsy

  • Tru-cut biopsy needles

  • Sterile water, 500-ml bottles

  • Sterile saline for injection

  • Sterile saline for irrigation, six 250-ml bottles

  • Urinary catheters

  • Butterfly catheters

  • Urinalysis tubes

  • Jugular catheters

  • Bulb syringe

  • Blood transfusion kits

  • IV infusion pumps

  • Primary IV sets, secondary IV sets, and extension sets

  • IV catheters (24, 22, 20, and 18 gauge)

  • IV fluids (e.g., LRS, Normosol-R, sodium chloride, D5W)

  • Male adapter plugs

  • Penrose drains

  • Porous tape

  • Elastic tape

  • Hematocrit tubes

  • Alcohol wipes

  • Safety goggles

  • Wash bottles

  • Bandages

  • Gauze

  • Stretch gauze

  • Chlorhexidine

  • Povidone-iodine

  • Hydrogen peroxide

  • Blood collection vials

  • Clotting tubes

  • Separation tubes

  • Pipettes

  • Sterile culture tubes and swabs

  • Formalin jars

  • Casting materials

  • Lint rollers

  • Roll cotton

  • Stockinette

  • Telfa pads

  • Tourniquets

  • Splints

  • Wood?s lamp

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Marlis Rezende, DVM, PhD, MSc, DACVAA
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