Fountain Pens For Healthcare Workers

[Rabbit713]

Hello Everyone,

I was curious if anyone else on the forum worked in healthcare, and if so, what fountain pen do you use? I'm a nurse in inpatient pediatrics, and my workhorse is a Lamy Safari. It's durable enough to survive falls and the finish hasn't been affected by the daily wipe downs with alcohol to keep the germs at bay.

 

So what's your go-to, and what variables impacted your decision?

[challer61]

I carry a tactile turn in my many visits to the OR, NICU, and Cath labs to observe procedures as a product designer.

[sciumbasci]

I have read online that healthcare professionals such as nurses prefer ring top pens, like the Lamy Nexx, because you can attach it a lanyard and just pull it to uncap.

 

I would carry a Pelikano Up or a similar school pen, with metal body

Edited October 24, 2018 by sciumbasci

[Honeybadgers]

Paramedic here, I use the delike alpha. It's solid brass and doesn't care about being wiped down. Or thrown. or used to break a window.

 

Just stay away from wood, ebonite, celluloid, or any vintage pen really. I would stick with a steel nib or something that you wouldn't die if it was dropped from a standing height while you were charting. It needs to be able to take a bleach wipe when needed.

 

Most nurse pens made by esterbrook were screw off non ringtops. I've never seen a ringtop or lanyard pen of any sort anywhere in healthcare.

 

I like my alpha, but if you like a snap cap, I think one of the very absolute best fountain pens on earth for a charting nurse or doctor is the new parker 51 vacumatic clone, the wing sung 601. vac-fill with a monster ink capacity, simple, high quality resin that I can confirm doesn't care about bleach wipes, a secure, metal slip cap, and a nice, smooth, well made EF nib. Also being hooded it doesn't like to dry out, so it can be left uncapped for upwards of 10 minutes without issue. A pen in a healthcare setting that you'll be using while standing needs to be something that you wouldn't mind replacing once or twice a year due to accidents. My vote goes for the $12 wing sung 601, but out in the field, I need something solid metal, so I am either carrying the lamy CP-1 (I know plastic section but it's been very durable in taking abuse) or the delike alpha with few exceptions.

Edited October 25, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[Rabbit713]

Honeybadger,

It sounds like we've been through a similar process. I started out using pilot petits, and while they are great little writers and cheap, they often got lost in my pockets and had a very small ink capacity. I tried a platinum preppy eyedropper, again cheap, but I dropped it once and it broke. My TWISBI was great, but the screw cap got to be a bit annoying for jotting down quick notes. I took my pilot vanishing point once, but was so paranoid about loosing the thing that I didn't enjoy using it. So I ended up with a Lamy Safari. It's actually been a great pen. The only thing I would change would be the ink capacity.

 

I like the idea of a solid brass pen. I'd never thought of that, but you couldn't get much more durable. I'll check out the alpha and Parker as well.

 

Thanks and be careful out there.

[Morphling27]

I'll speak about both ends, to a degree.

 

My wife is a floor nurse at the hospital and works in observation, but they get floated to everything. One day she'll be on the 'glamorous' selective/plastic surgery floor and the next week may have to be on the very serious oncology floor. I even asked her about a fountain pen for work and she realized it'd get lost or broken long before it should. She also thinks pens are toss away items, but I buy her a big pack of G2's at times and she's happy.

 

I work on the administrative side for health care so I'm in a big, faceless office and corporation. I get to use any and every pen I can imagine.

 

I think the Safari mentioned is probably one of the better options, as plastic ain't gonna get hurt and it's easy to get carts for it you could keep in a pocket for refills.

 

Rabbit - Karas Kustoms makes a pen out of brass, copper, and aluminum. They can be interchanged too, so you can buy back up parts. I've held the aluminum and brass ones, that brass one especially could be lobbed as a weapon. Specifically their K model, which comes with a huge array of nib options too.

[twin63]

I'm the Transfusion Safety Officer for a regional blood center. Most of my time is spent in meetings or at my desk doing reports. My favorites so far are the Pilot Stella 90s and Sailor Pro Gear Slim, although I always have a Uni Jetstream for quick notes and for writing on some of our labels in the component lab.

 

My background is in the clinical lab. If I were still doing that, I would probably carry the same, but only for personal notes or reports. As much as I hate using the cheap ballpoints now, I would likely suck it up and use one of the pens kept on the bench - too many nasty things in the lab that I wouldn't want to carry home.

[Honeybadgers]

I keep a nice ballpoint fisher AG-7 on hand to give to nurses and doctors who ask for a pen. They don't have time to mess with my fountain pen.

 

I also keep a sharpie for writing on glass and patients. Writing on their foreheads in their blood is kind of frowned on these days.

[Nosferatualso]

Im a psychiatrist in a community mental health team. I use a white pilot metropolitan with a fine italic nib from a plumix

[Wolverine1]

I have seen a number of physicians at the Univ of Michigan health System hospital and associated Clinics carry Pilot Vanishing Point fountain pens. Also some nurses and other associated medical personell carry Lamy Al-Star pens. They like the fact that both pens have metal bodies which they can sterilise with alcohol wipes.

[sidthecat]

Ringtops would be a useful addition to the medical professional’s kit, but they’d have to be:

A) reasonably burly and able to withstand repeated cleaning,

equipped with a snap-cap that WON’T FALL OFF,

C) attached with a sterilisable lanyard.

 

If somebody made one with a decent nib, I’d be tempted.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

My daughter's cardiologist uses a Montblanc C/C.

[vikingmedic]

Im paramedic and i change between my Lamy Safari, Pilot Metropolitan and an eye dropper preppy. But the Metropolitan is carried most of the time. Its solid, can handle a drop and if stolen (again) its not super expensive to replace.

[Honeybadgers]

You're brave with a preppy eyedroppered. I've been kicked by a psych patient squarely in the chest where my pen is. I had a lamy 2000 in the pocket. it didn't care one bit.

[Lester Brooke]

You're brave with a preppy eyedroppered. I've been kicked by a psych patient squarely in the chest where my pen is. I had a lamy 2000 in the pocket. it didn't care one bit.

 

A spin-off topic perhaps:

How to carry Your pens as not to get hurt in an accident, attack from another person and the like? The question applies to on-the -floor medical personnel I think, but also anyone travelling, by car, bus, plane och bicycle! Wearing a thin hard rod close to Your chest could severely aggravate any injury of impact of any sort, don't You imagine?

 

By the way, I'm medical doctor by profession, and imaginative by character. A colleague of mine who now and then performs autopsies of accident victims, once advised me never to wear a pen in my left shirt pocket. I could well imagine his grounds for giving that sort of advice. Since then I have a preference for pens that can be carried in a trouser pocket and have blunt ends. I just wish shirt pockets were sewn to the outside of the upper sleeve ,instead of the chest part. Reaching for Your pen in Your trousers isn't always convenient, especially not while sitting down. And Your groin also carries great vessels that You would not like to get punctured.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Lester Brooke

[Honeybadgers]

I've never in my career seen anyone injured by a pen in a breast or pants pocket. If the mechanism of injury was severe enough for the pen to be a component of the injury, then there's almost certainly already a corpse by a multitude of other reasons.

 

I can speak from field experience that injuries from pens in typical place (breast pocket, pants pocket) will never be a genuine concern to your safety.

 

If you're really, REALLY that paranoid, however, there are scrubs out there with slots in the sleeve for a pen. They would only take very thin pens and I find them very inconveinent.

 

I've been kicked by a psychiatric patient in the chest with a pen in my breast pocket. Right on the pen. It caused me no injury.

 

It's funny how medicine really divides us. some people (not implying you, just referring to my experience with paramedics) become extremely paranoid regarding all the injuries they see.

 

"did you see how badly that kid broke his leg on the trampoline? I'm NEVER letting my kids have one!"

 

Whereas the rest become very jaded to the actual likelihood of injury.

 

"yeah, but this is the first trampoline injury we've seen in years."

 

I have responded to over fifty high speed vehicle rollover accidents in the past 3 years. Not a single one of them resulted in any noteworthy injury whatsoever.

Edited October 30, 2018 by Honeybadgers

[DaveyWonder]

I work in outpatient healthcare. When Im on the floor, I use either my Lamy 2000 (M) or my Parker 51 (F). Slip cap and not too flashy, yet both pretty rugged. The hooded nibs dont dry out while waiting on patients to tell me their stories. I always also carry a rollerball for other people to use to sign forms (usually my blacked out Lamy Swift).

 

When Im in my office (I lock it when Im not in it), I have an array of expensive pens to enjoy.

 

Of note, my company uses really cheap copy paper. I usually load my floor pens with MontBlanc Royal Blue ink because its well behaved on it and I can differentiate between originals and copies.

Edited October 30, 2018 by DaveyWonder

[Aurora60]

I’ve been a community pharmacist for 30 + years .Pilot Vanishing Point works for me.

I make notes as I speak to people whether it’s in person or on the phone so I need a pen that is ready to go in a second and can be retracted and tossed in my pocket when I’m finished.

 

Hey that sounds like an advertisement !

[Corona688]

I like the idea of a solid brass pen. I'd never thought of that, but you couldn't get much more durable. I'll check out the alpha and Parker as well.

Another voice in support of the Alpha for a rough-and-ready pen. I'm not a medical worker, though. My qualification is "how much abuse can a pen tolerate and survive". Most fountain pens could be beat up and destroyed with a disposable ballpoint. The alpha, when closed, might do the opposite.

 

They all have a pointless engraving on the cap, "War and Peace". Some grind it out. Some ignore it.

Edited October 30, 2018 by Corona688

[sansenri]

pharma industry here...

 

has not much to do with the environment in which I use the pen or it's ruggedness, but the pen I ought to use is a Marlen Ippocrate...

 

Unfortunately I don't own one, perhaps I should sooner or later...

 

(and would dearly love an Onoto Doctor's pen too...)

Edited October 30, 2018 by sansenri