A good watch is a vital tool for any nurse to get through their shift. Not only can it help keep track of patients’ medications, but it can also help take vitals, pulse rates, and ensure that patients stay on their treatment plan. Whether you want to buy it as a gift or want to replace a watch you already have, here are a few tips and reviews to help you choose from the best watches for nurses.
Contents of this Page
The Best Watches for Nurses Right Now
Nurse Mates Womens Uni-Body Slim Watch
Best Easy To Read Watch
Stylish and easy to read, the Nurse Mates Uni-Watch has a military time display and step second-hand, which is great for recording keeping. Featuring large numbers, your work as a nurse will be easier since you can quickly glance at your watch to know what time it is.
This water-resistant watch comes with a rubber silicone wrist strap, so you don’t have to worry about it getting wet as you work and wash your hands constantly throughout the day.
The Uni-Watch is a comfortable watch that makes it easy to wear for long hours and includes an adjustable strap that fits almost anyone. Including a sturdy metal buckle for security, the Nurse Mates Uni-Watch is available in either white or black, so it will match any color scrubs.
The Nurse Mate’s Uni-Watch is very quiet, so it won’t disturb your patients in the middle of the night.
Dakota Clip-on Watch
Best Clip-on Watch for Nurses
Easy to clip onto your scrubs, the Dakota Clip-on Watch also hooks easily onto your bag, backpack, or lanyard.
It is also water-resistant up to 100 feet, which is great when you constantly wash your hands. It is also easy to wash in case it gets dirty during patient care, which you know happens a lot.
Featuring a dial that glows in the dark, you can easily see in a dark patient’s room, plus it comes with a bright LED light on the top of the watch that helps to lighten up rooms at night. This is a great solution for those nurses that don’t like to wear watches since its handy and you can easily reach it.
Prestige Medical Basic Student Watch
Best Watch for Nursing Students
Featuring quartz movement, the Prestige Medical Basic Student Watch comes with a 24-hour dial and military time, which makes it great for nursing students.
As you get used to working long shifts, you will want a reliable watch that is also water-resistant because you will be washing your hands a lot.
The band and case are made of resin and comes in a stark white color that will perfectly complement any nurse’s uniform or scrubs.
Measuring 9 inches, the Prestige Medical Basic Student Watch has a white clock face featuring black numbers and the second hand in red, which is easy to distinguish when learning to take vitals.
This is an affordable and comfortable watch option that blends in well with your nursing student scrubs. Plus, the smoothness of the resin band will not trap tons of bacteria like a grooved strap will make it easy to clean no matter what gets on it.
Apple Watch Series 5
Best Smartwatch for Nurses
One of the best watches for nurses is the Apple Watch Series 5. It features a 30% larger display making it easier to read during patient care increasing accuracy and efficiency.
The face of the clock is also a touchscreen, just like an iPhone, making it super easy to use as you are monitoring a patient. And, it also features speakers with adjustable volume, so you can make sure your smartwatch volume won’t disturb your patient’s rest.
With a long battery life, you have less maintenance to worry about because the last thing you want to worry about is your watch dying on you as you work.
One of the main functions of the Apple Watch Series 5 watch is keeping you active and healthy, so it has included an accelerator and gyroscope to keep track of your movement. It can also read your heartbeat, track your goals, an ECG app and keeps a log of your daily steps.
The Apple Watch Series 5 is swimproof and is available in a wide range of styles and colors including gold, pink, stainless steel, and aluminum allowing you to show some individuality along with your scrubs. +
It also allows you to do several things hands-free like read a message, listen to movies or music, or make a call, which is great when you are busy with patient care. And it comes with both optical and electrical heart sensors for fitness tracking, and it uses either cellular and GPS services for increased reliability.
Speidel Original Scrub Watch
Best All-Around Nurses Watch
Very easy to read, the Speidel Scrub Watch features a three-hand quartz movement that includes a red second that is highly visible, which is perfect for pulse readings. The white dial also includes 12 and 24-hour markers that are helpful when getting a patient’s vitals.
Comfortable and durable, this is a super easy watch to clean that is also water-resistant up to 30 meters, which is great since you never know what will get on you in a 12-hour shift.
Designed to be easy to read, the markers on the Speidel Scrub Watch are large and contrast well with the white background of the clock face, so you don’t get distracted from the patient trying to read it.
The silicone band is comfortable with prolonged use, and it is also super easy to clean during a 12-hour shift. You can easily replace the adjustable strap on the Speidel Scrub Watch with seven color straps to choose from making it a good choice for either male or female nurses.
Dakota Women’s Nurse Watch
Best Watch for Taking Pulse Rates
Featuring a 15-second quadrant pulse ring, the Dakota Leather Casual Women’s Watch comes with lots of useful features for nurses. You can watch the seconds markers as they change colors in each of the 15-second segments, which makes it super easy for a nurse to measure respiration and pulse rates.
This is an easy to read watch for nurses that includes a military dial as well as a contrasting second hand that is helpful for documentation and charts. You can simply glance at the military time or view the easy to read numbers on the Dakota Leather Casual Women’s
Watch and get through your work quickly and efficiently. With colorful leather straps that match scrub colors, you can match your scrubs or show your individuality no matter what the color they are.
Fitbit Alta Smart Fitness Activity Tracker
Best Fitness Tracker for Nurses
The Fitbit Alta features a long-lasting battery that doesn’t need charging making it perfect for 12-hour shifts.
Nurses will appreciate this slim and wearable watch that is also water-resistant making it safe to wear as you work. This is not a clunky watch, so it doesn’t get in your way as you take care of patients and won’t catch on clothes or blankets.
The Fitbit Alta works as a fitness tracker as well. It will sync wirelessly and automatically to a computer and tons of devices using Bluetooth technology allowing you to keep track of your own health while you take care of others.
It is also water-resistant, so it can get wet as you wash your hands constantly throughout the day.
You can also use the Fitbit Alta to track your activity all day and all night by simply connecting it to your smartphone and you can send notifications right to your watch.
Featuring an OLED tap display, its overall sleek and slim design gives you a streamlined and smooth look. Available in two sizes, you can also choose from pink, teal, plum, blue, or black bands.
Casio Dive Watch
Best Water-Resistant Watch
Affordable and easy to read, the Casio Dive Watch has easy to read numbers that are large, so you can see them at a glance while you work.
It also features a comfortable adjustable band, so you don’t have to keep fussing with it during a 12-hour shift. This is a water-resistant watch up to 100 meters, so it can take a dozen hand washings and any other liquid it might encounter as you work with patients.
Featuring Japanese quartz movement, it has 12/24-hour timekeeping capabilities and comes with a second hand, which is necessary when taking vitals.
This affordable watch includes several high-end features making it a good value. And, it is super lightweight making it a great watch if when turning and moving patients.
Timex Unisex Weekender
Best Value Nurse Watch
Perfect for both male and female nurses, the Timex Unisex Weekender is both scratch and water-resistant making it a great for 12-hour shifts.
If you work nights, you will like the backlight feature that lets you see easily in darkened rooms and prevents you from waking patients up.
The Timex Unisex Weekender is also a very accurate watch thanks to its quartz movement, so you can remain efficient and precise as you work
This is a great quality watch considering the case won’t scratch easily and the band won’t get caught on things easily, plus several band styles that you can choose from including a classic design to a more basic option. And, it can be worn professionally or casually making it easy to tailor to your personality.
Casio Women’s LRW200H-7BVCF Watch
Best Watch for a 12-Hour Shift
Featuring a round dial and bi-directional bezel, the Casio Women’s Watch is an all-white watch that is very attractive but also functional, especially for the demanding life of a nurse.
Using Japanese quartz movement that includes an analog display, this is a great watch to have with you on a 12-hour shift when you need accuracy and efficiency to get through all the reports. This watch is water-resistant and can handle multiple hand washings a day since it is resistant to water up to 100 meters.
Highlighted with pastel accents on the 12 hour and 24-hour indices, this is a stylish watch that is also functional. For added durability, it includes a 33mm resin case and mineral dial window. And when you aren’t at work, this is a sporty enough watch to wear casually.
Casio Stainless Steel Watch
Best Watch for Taking Vitals
With quartz movement and an analog display, the Casio Women’s Stainless-Steel Watch features a resin band that is super comfortable making it a great choice for a 12-hour shift.
This round watch comes with a bi-directional bezel, luminous hands, Arabic hour markers, and a date window found at three o’clock that helps when you are taking vitals or charting.
It is also resistant to water up to 100 meters, so you can also wear it snorkeling or swimming as well as through your 12-hour nursing shift.
You can clearly see the 12-hour and 24-hour markers against the white background of the watch face making it easy to read at a glance. The luminous hands allow you to tell time even in a dark room while the small date window helps you keep your charts accurate.
The Casio Stainless Steel Watch is very similar to the previous Casio watch except for its color and slightly larger size, but also a good choice for a nurse.
Timex Indiglo Easy Reader Quartz Analog Watch
Best Watch for Dark Rooms
Featuring timeless beauty with a functional design, the Timex Women’s Indiglo is one of the best watches for nurses. It is easy to read and includes a date feature, which is great for filling out charts and taking vitals.
This durable watch has a simple watch face with no details, so it is easy to read all the time and has nothing to distract you from your patient. This clutter-free design is great for nurses and includes a full set of Arabic numbers and white hands that you can easily glance at to tell the time.
The classic design of the Timex Indiglo Easy Reader Quartz Analog Watch is perfect for the nursing field mixing style and elegance with functionality. The Timex Indiglo is water-resistant up to 30 meters making it a great choice for someone that washes their hands frequently.
The Indiglo also features lighting that makes the time easy to read in a dark patient’s room, so you can minimize how much you wake your patients up.
Casio LQ139A-1B3 Black Classic Resin Watch
Best Basic Watch for Nurses
Affordable and functional, the Casio Women’s LQ139A-1B3 Black Classic Watch comes with a ton of features that a nurse needs on a 12-hour shift.
This round watch comes with a quartz movement and an analog display making this simple design very easy to read. You can immediately see the time along with the hands and hour marker as you work.
Made of resin, the 22mm case encloses the watch’s face and hands in a resin glass dial window. While not completely waterproof, the Casio Women’s LQ139A-1B3 Black Classic Watch can withstand periodic splashing when you wash your hands. The black band is also made of resin and comes with a buckle closure.
Considerations When Choosing the Best Watch for Nurses
Besides telling time, a medical watch is an extremely useful and essential tool to help carry out daily work-related activities. Here are some considerations to take note for the best watches for nurses.
Waterproof
Since a nurse’s job involves constant hand washing and other exposure to liquids, you don’t want to have to take your watch off every time this happens. Think about it. You often come in contact with cleaning supplies, bodily fluids, and other medical needs several times a day. The best watch for a nurse will be able to take on whatever liquids you come in contact with during your shift without causing damage or becoming fogged up.
Lightweight and Comfortable
Since you will wear this watch through long shifts, you want it to be non-obtrusive and lightweight. You use your hands a lot during your job, so you don’t want them to feel weighed down.
You also want it to fit right and be comfortable. The last thing you need is to have to mess with a watch that doesn’t’ fit or move right. That type of distraction isn’t helpful when you are working with a full patient load. Make sure you choose a watch that secures nicely and is adjustable.
Backlit
Working in a dark room is part of the job when you are a nurse. During the night shift, you check on a patient that is sleeping while other patients need the room to be dark to deal with their symptoms.
Turning on the lights will disturb your patients, so in most cases, that’s not a possibility. Having a watch with a backlight will enable you to enter a room that is dark and still check your watch when you need to. have patients who are sleeping. Other patients may require a dark room to help with whatever symptoms they have.
Analog versus Digital
Typically, medical professionals prefer using an analog watch since they are perfect for counting seconds, which can come in handy for specific counts like taking a pulse. However, a digital watch that comes with a second count next to the minute display work just as well. Their numerical displays are easy to read when you are in a hurry.
Lapel vs. Wristwatch
Your lapel and wrist are the two most popular places to wear a watch. Both styles are liked for different reasons, so there really isn’t one place that is better than the other to wear your watch, it just depends on your preference.
Nurses that prefer wristwatches like that the watch is easy to access and wear. This is especially important if you use your hands a lot, it is right where you need to see it all the time.
Nurses that like lapel watches prefer the fact that their watch comes in contact with fewer germs and other fluids. A lapel watch also doesn’t get in the way when you are washing your hands. However, you can’t see them as well when you are counting pulses, and, if your hands are dirty or wet, you can’t really touch them.
Lab Charting
Lab charting and medical documentation require accurate date and times for treatments, tests, medical interactions, and assessments that are done during a nurse’s shift. Every interaction that you make with a patient need to be recorded or charted to accurately track a patient’s condition and guarantee that everyone that is involved knows everything they need to know about a patient’s health and what treatments have been received, so it’s important to have a watch that lets you easily take pulse rates and vitals.
Having an easy to read and reliable watch is important, because if there isn’t accurate record keeping, medical professionals will have a hard time measuring the health progress of a patient. It can also create issues for record keepers as they may be confused of the order in which a given treatment or medication was provided, further complicating issues.
Date Displays
Typically, there are four ways to see a date display on any type of watch. You have the subsidiary dial, the pointer dial, the big date, and the date window. With these four different date displays, you can see what day it is, just in a different form. However, they do all show you what the numerical date is, but the first two will show numbers while the other two use pointers to the numerical date on an axis.
With a more complex watch, you may be able to see a complete calendar which shows you more details like the year, month, and even the week. All of this information can be helpful, although not necessary, for a nurse who may be working quite a few shifts during a week and can’t keep track of the days.
Other Things to Consider
There are also other features that a nurse will find beneficial in a watch such as:
- Replaceable band
- Second hand included
- Military time format
- Battery length
- Size and base plate
All of these factors should be taken into consideration when choosing the best watches for nurses. How large your watch is can also affect the other features. If it is too small, it will be hard to read while a watch that is too large can get in the way.
Having a reliable battery is also important, especially if the watch isn’t rechargeable, you don’t have to have to constantly change the battery in your watch. When you do have to charge the battery, it helps if it is easy to replace or has a long battery life. If you do have a rechargeable battery, remember to charge the battery before each shift.
Military time is used by many medical practices, and it is easy to learn if you aren’t familiar with it. Since most of your peers will use it, military time can be beneficial to learn, and you will find that many watches also come with military time.
Efficiency and comfort are two very important things to remember when you buy a nurse’s watch. It’s important to try out watches to find the one with the best fit that is also the most comfortable. Also, ask other medical professionals for their opinion on the best watches for nurses that they have used while they are on duty.
Nurse’s Input on Time Management
Working in a hospital as a nurse can be challenging. Saving lives, attending to patients, a day on duty can be super hectic. That is why owning a good and reliable watch is indispensable for any nurse. To make sure that you have the best one on your arsenal we got the opinion of our nurse friends. So we asked them this question; “How do you plan and manage time while imparting quality care?”
- The way that I make my work efficient while not compromising quality is:
- Consolidate work and focus on one task at a time. Too much multitasking can decrease efficiency as well as lead to mistakes.
- Do it right the first time so you don’t have to spend extra time fixing errors. You especially want to avoid any errors related to patient care (obviously).
- Your charts should be thorough and paint a clear picture. Charts should read like a story. Meaning, keeping track of what you are doing can help you and whoever else is caring for the patient in the future and ensure better care for the patient. This decreases the chances of duplicate work and errors. Chart well! If you have a well documented chart, you should be able to read it and know what’s going on. If you read a chart and things don’t make sense that’s poor charting and wastes time and increases chances of errors.
- Just be organized. Develop a system that works for you.
- Come to work mentally prepared how you will execute the day.
Sara Hunt, DNP, FNP-C, PHN
www.DrSaraHunt.com
2. Time management in the field of healthcare is a difficult task. I always set my goals for the upcoming week, months, and then yearly. Being a family physician, it is essential to keep a track of time and schedule.. In addition to day to day appointments, certain times I have to handle emergency cases too.So, I have to prioritize tasks according to the situation, emergency overroutine outpatient cases. I do this by the decision matrix given below.
I normally put this data on my laptop or mobile. I take help from all kinds of technology to make my work more efficient. I was always overloaded with work but with the passage of time and experience I have learned when to say “no”. I also communicate using body language for management of time like standing while saying final words to a patient at the end of the appointment.
By using the above-mentioned measures, I provide quality care to my patients.
Waqas Ahmad
Physician @ Insurecast
Linkedin, Live Doctor
3. When it comes to giving quality care and utilizing time management, I have to plan out my night. One of my important time management strategies is; looking at my patient load, and prioritizing which patients need to be seen first. I also assess whatever potential issues that may arise with my patients. Addressing the patients needs is another top priority. Organizing their meds ahead of time, is helpful strategy that I use as well. Communicating with the patients the plan of care for the night, is also very helpful. Service with a smile goes along way, and it helps to put your patients at ease.
Shantay Carter
Founder, Women Of Integrity Inc.
(516) 457- 8585
www.womenofintegrityinc.org.
4. Time management is a challenge while making sure that we provide the best patient care possible. Being organized is the best trick I have; being prepared for my day, anticipating my patient’s needs ahead of time and planning for any procedures or medications that might be needed. Being prepared helps to avoid the unexpected- and patient care is full of unexpected events.
Nancy Brook, MSN, RN
Nurse Practitioner, Stanford Healthcare.
www.nursepractitionerbook.com
Recap: The 10 Best Watches for Nurses Right Now
- Nurse Mates – Womens – Uni-Body Slim Watch
- Dakota Mini Clip Microlight Nurse Watch
- Dakota Women’s Nurse Watch with Water Resistant Leather Band
- Speidel Original Scrub Watch – Medical Scrub Colors
- Prestige Medical Basic Student Watch (White)
- Fitbit Alta Smart Fitness Activity Tracker
- Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS + Cellular, 40mm)
- Casio Women’s LRW200H-7BVCF Watch
- Timex Women’s Indiglo Easy Reader Quartz Watch with Date Feature
- Casio Women’s LQ139A-1B3 Black Classic Resin Watch
