Home Visit Bag Checklist for the DPC Pediatrician

As a direct primary care pediatrician, you have a lot of freedom and flexibility when it comes to how you want to set up your practice. Many direct care doctors offer home visits, either exclusively or as an adjunct to their office based practice. 

When I was exclusively doing pediatrics as home visits, I divided my home visit supplies into several categories. This allowed me to carry a smaller bag for the majority of visits.

Home Visit Supplies

These are the items that I would recommend for each category if you plan to do general pediatric home visits:

Big Kid Supplies (> 2 years old)

Standing scale

Eye chart (hand held snellen/preschool chart) 

Eye cover 

Tape measure 

Blood pressure machine with different cuff sizes 

Standiometer (In Line portable or Seca portable) 

Hearing screener (can wait on) 

Vision screener (if desired) – $$$

Baby Supplies (< 2 years old)

Baby scale (Seca 334 is a great one)

Measuring mat

FOC tape measures

General Supplies for exams (all ages)

Stethoscope

Ophthalmoscope/otoscope 

Pulse ox 

Infant pulse ox + probe + covers 

Tongue depressors 

Otoscope covers 

Reflex hammer 

General Medical Supplies for Procedures/ Sick visits* 

Alcohol wipes 

Point of care tests like flu and strep 

Small supply of meds likes creams and ointments (steroid, bactroban, etc) 

Rocephin 

Zofran 

Nebulizer machine and nebs 

Urine bags 

Pedi urine cath 

Newborn Heel sticks (can also request from lab)

Heel warmers (you can also request from lab) 

Finger sticks 

Hemoglobin machine (wait on) 

Gloves – non-sterile and sterile 

Chux pads

*the supplies for procedures will vary depending on what you would like to offer

Wound supplies (if desired) (wait on)

Lidocaine 

Sutures / Suture kit

Staples 

Staple remover 

Suture removal kit 

Dermabond/glue (can buy generic version from medical suppliers like Henry Schein)

Vaccine supplies (if doing vaccines)

25 g 1 in needles with and without syringes 

23 g 5⁄8 in needles/syringes 

Alcohol wipes

Bandaids

Vial of epinephrine/ epi-pen 

Cooler/ cold packs for transporting

Portable thermometer 

Chux pads/ small basket for organizing and preparing vaccines 

Buying and Transporting Supplies

The items on this list can be purchased from a variety of retailers. I bought things from Amazon, Henry Schein and Hopkins Medical. Depending on what GPO you are a part of, you may have a better deal on supplies from other places. 

While I separated these supplies into different bags at first, I ended up purchasing a rolling bag set to cut down on how much weight I was carrying. I purchased a set on Amazon that was actually intended to carry work tools (like hammers, etc), but they worked really well for medical home visit supplies. 

As I noted above, there are certain supplies that are a little more pricey and I think that you can wait to purchase until you have the patient numbers to support such a purchase. A DPC practice works the best when you can keep your overhead as low as possible. Not all of these items need to be in your bag from day one. You can buy things as you go and as you find a need for them. Buying too many supplies is one of the mistakes to avoid when you are starting a pediatric DPC practice.