More of your health care takes place in your home than anywhere else. Having the right tools, medicines, supplies, and information on hand will improve the quality of your self-care.

Self-care tools that are useful to have at home include:

• Blood pressure cuff.
• Cold pack.
• Dental mirror.
• Eyedropper.
• Heating pad.
• Humidifier or vaporizer.
• Medicine spoon.
• Nail clippers.
• Penlight.
• Scissors.
• Stethoscope.
• Thermometer.
• Tweezers.

If you have children younger than age 6, consider adding:

• Bulb aspirator or syringe.
• Rectal thermometer.
• Otoscope, an instrument with a light that you can use to look into the ear canal.