West-Ark Church of Christ Guyana Mission Team
Nurses' Supply Packing List

The nurses on the Guyana Medical Mission Team of the West-Ark church use the following list to aid in packing supplies for their annual trip to Guyana. We wish to share this list on the Web to assist other groups who are planning an evangelistic clinic in Guyana. Each team should adapt the list to their own needs and their own available packing space. Procurement of supplies should begin months before scheduled departure.

This list is not in any particular order. It is not possible to take everything on the list. Not everything on the list will be used every year at the clinic site. Always ask the doctors and dentists on your team if there is anything special they will need that is not on your list. The Little Rock office of Partners In Progress can be contacted well in advance of departure to assist in acquiring essential supplies that the team leaders cannot find.

If your team will be using the imported formulary, be sure to pack thousands of 2x3 and 3x5 ziplock bags, as well as print and pack all the labels for the medications. You may also want to take several pill counters. You will need a few boxes of gallon size ziplock bags for storing counted medicines.

• First Aid Kit - Actually, not to pack, but to carry aboard plane by a designated nurse or physician.
• Clinic Forms - Up to 2500 sheets with space for patient name, address, age, spiritual interview, vital signs, progress notes, and treatment plan. These are the most immediate priority as you begin setting up on the first clinic day, allowing patients to begin signing in and Bible studies to commence.
• Numbered Patient Tickets - These must be used to maintain control of the crowds by passing out 1 ticket per patient. Ideally, morning and afternoon tickets are numbered separately for "MD," "DDS," and "Eye." The number of tickets needed can be estimated by the medical professionals.
• Hammers - 2. Put them in separate totes in case one gets lost.
• Nails - Masonry nails work best for driving into the incredibly hard heart wood in Guyana.
• Rope - At least 150 feet of clothesline (or similar) rope to make cubicles and additional rope for crowd control.
• Bed Sheets - At least a dozen to make "walls" in the clinic for privacy, etc. May need several to create a "changing room" for baptisms, too.
• Safety Pins and/or Clothes Pins - For hanging sheets from ropes. Know which totes contain hammers, nails, rope, sheets, and pins since their use is the first priority in the clinic on the first day.
• Stethoscopes - At least one for each nurse, plus 2 extra. (Doctors should pack their own in their carry-ons.)
• Blood Pressure Cuffs - Enough regular size adult cuffs for each nurse doing triage plus 2 extra. Plus 2 large adult and 1 child cuff. All must be in good working order. Place each cuff in a separate Ziplock plastic bag and place desiccator (moisture absorbent) paks in each bag to keep the moisture out of the gauges. Keep bags tightly closed.
• Thermometers - Ear thermometers are preferred. Need 1 for each nurse doing triage or 1 per 2 nurses. Take disposable plastic ear covers which can be reused by wiping clean with alcohol and cotton balls. Take extra batteries. If battery-powered, oral thermometers are packed, take lots of disposable covers.
• Clipboards - Enough for each nurse and each doctor. (Full- or half-sized.)
• Ink Pens - At least 4 per nurse and doctor. Personal workers will need additional pens.
• Hibistat Bottles - Enough for each nurse, doctor, and other health care professional to have at their station or exam area. Also, pack some for the personal workers to use in the teaching areas and before breaks and lunch and after trips to the restroom.
• Bandage Scissors - 1 for each nurse.
• Small, Sharp-Pointed Scissors - 2 to 4.
• Otoscopes - 2, with extra batteries and/or recharge every night at the hotel. (Doctors should pack their own otoscopes in their carry-ons.)
• Cerumenex Ear Drops - 2 bottles.
• Alcohol - Several bottles.
• Alcohol Prep Pads - A box of 100 for each day of the clinic.
• Hydrogen Peroxide - At least 6 to 8 bottles.
• Betadine Solution - About 4 bottles.
• Triple Antibiotic Cream/Ointment - At least 10 tubes.
• Silvadene Cream - 1 jar.
• Iodine Swabsticks - 1 box.
• Cling Dressing - Several packages.
• Telfa Pads - Different sizes.
• Curlex - Several packages.
• Gauze -
• Several Rolls
• Sterile and Non-Sterile - 2x2's, 3x3's, 4x4's - 4 packages of 100 each.
• Scarlet Red Dressings
• Medicated Gauze
• Tape - Several rolls of different kinds and sizes.
• Hemastats - 5 or 6.
• Scapel Blade Holder - 3.
• Scapel Blades - Several of different sizes.
• Plastic Pans - About 6 of the blue round pans like those used in cataract surgery.
• Gloves - Several boxes of Sterile and Non-Sterile, various sizes (more non-sterile).
• Kidney-Shaped Emesis Basins - 1 or 2.
• Ziplock Bags - 1 box of gallon size.
• Alligator Forceps - 1.
• Cotton Balls - 2 or 3 packs.
• Disposable Gowns - 5 to 6, to use for procedures.
• Disposable Drapes - About 10.
• Baby Bulb Syringe - 2 to irrigate ears.
• Face Shields - 2 to 4.
• Tongue Depressors - 1 to 2 boxes.
• I.V. Setups
• Sterile Needles - 23g 1 inch, 22g 1½ inch, 25g, 27g - several
• Sterile Syringes - 1cc, 3cc, 5cc, 10cc, 20cc, 30cc, 60cc
• Irrigating Bulb Syringe - 1.
• Suture with Needles - Ask doctors what they want to use.
• Steri-Strips - Several.
• Benzoin - 1 small bottle.
• Bandaids - 1 box of flexible kind.
• Ace Wraps - About 10.
• Arm Slings - 2 to 4.
• Eye Wash - 1 bottle.
• Sterile Water - 10 bottles for wound and ear irrigation.
• Trash Bags - 1 box.
• Sharps Container - 1.
• Dermamed Foam - 2 or 3 bottles.
• Q-Tips - 1 box.
• Duct Tape - 1 roll.
• Cedacidal/Germicidal - 1 gallon. To soak instruments.
• Container to Hold Supplies for Nurse Procedures

Laboratory Supplies

• Urine Collection Cups - 50.
• Urine Dipsticks - 1 or 2 bottles.
• Male Urinal - 1.
• Home Glucose Monitor - 1.
• Lancets - 1 box.
• Glucose Test Strips - 1 bottle.
• Alcohol Prep Pads - Probably enough packed above.
• Notepad - For reporting results.
• Tape or Stapler - To attach lab results to patient's clinic form.

Other Supplies

• Baptismal Garments - 3 or 4 dark colored.
• Bath or Beach Towels - several for baptisms.
• Bibles - Any number is too few. Lots of New Testaments, and enough full Bibles for each new convert.
• Study Guides - About 1,000. Available from Partners In Progress in Little Rock at 65 cents each.
• Tracts - Used by personal workers, and others distributed by medical workers.
• Bottle Cap Opener - Secured with string near the team's Coke supply.
• Disposable Cups - About 10 times the number of people on the team, for drinking water. Some teams will require less than 2 cups per person per day.
• Powdered Gatorade
• Sanitary Napkins - 1 box.
• Portable Camping Toilet - Requires bleach or special solution. For use of team members if site found for set up. Each team member should be responsible for supplying their own toilet paper.
• Heavy-Duty Electric Extension Cords - Several long ones.
• Electric Fans - If you desire and have room to pack them.

Cokes, Drinking Water, and Ice are supplied by Partners In Progress in Guyana for team use at the clinic site. A 220 & 110 Generator is usually available. If you are expecting any other items to be available at the clinic, please contact Steve DeLoach, in-country coordinator, well in advance of stateside departure.

  Link to Guyana Workbook

  Link to Guyana Missions Home Page