Are Medical Students allowed to wear nurse/utility belts?

I was wondering if medical students are allowed to wear utility type belts on wards to carry items like pens, scissors etc as I know some nurses use these due to lack of pockets in scrubs, I have experience in veterinary practice where they are extremely popular for carrying essentials like scissors, pens and notebooks. Are they a useful thing to have and are they allowed to be used in hospitals/practices? Asking to see if this would be a useful gift for a friend who is about to start a medical degree for use on placements etc.?

I was wondering if medical students are allowed to wear utility type belts on wards to carry items like pens, scissors etc as I know some nurses use these due to lack of pockets in scrubs, I have experience in veterinary practice where they are extremely popular for carrying essentials like scissors, pens and notebooks. Are they a useful thing to have and are they allowed to be used in hospitals/practices? Asking to see if this would be a useful gift for a friend who is about to start a medical degree for use on placements etc.?

Hi @IonaVet

Whether you can wear a utility belt will depend on the rules imposed both by the medical school and the hospital trust- it may be that they can wear it on some of their placements but not others. At Lancaster, utility belts wouldn't comply with infection control policy, but I've never found myself short of scrub pockets personally! It's also worth thinking about whether they would be on placement straight away, the practical part of my course didn't start until second year.

Nellie (Third-year Medical Student)