Looking through a first aid kit, or even a child's "doctor set," you might think you know what doctors use on a daily basis. You will find Neosporin, Band Aids, Tape, and maybe even Aspirin. What you might be surprised about though is how off those kits really are. Nurses, not doctors, use most of those items; many of doctor's essential tools cannot be carried in an 1800's-style small town midwife bag.

Family practitioners often use otoscopes and ophthalmoscopes to check the ears and eyes, and that little patella hammer is still used to test that famous knee-jerk reaction, but many doctors have not used these instruments since early residency in hospitals.

While a specialist's tools are very diverse, ranging from MRI machines, to surgical tools, some common doctors tools are simply those machines you find in any hospital room.

Any reputable doctors office or first aid center will surely have an AED machine. Also called an Automated External Defibrillator, these machines are used to get the blood flowing in the event of a heart attack; they are also the alternative choice to CPR.

In hospitals, you are likely to see hundreds of patient monitors. These machines monitor patient's vital signs and emit audio warnings when something changes for the worst. These monitors are used during surgeries, recovery and in any trauma situations.

Another common instrument in hospitals is the EKG machine. If you have ever stayed an extended period of time, you were probably hooked up to one of these machines. Over a certain period of time, these machines record the activity of the heart, and measure for an abnormalities or weaknesses in the heart's rhythm.

Much to your surprise, the blood pressure monitor is also a very valuable tool for a doctor. One of the first indicators of problems can be a drop or rise in blood pressure, and these monitors give the doctors ample warning time to correct the situation before anything too detrimental occurs.

One of the few tools that you will find in your childhood doctor's kit that is actually quite accurate is a stethoscope. Doctors and nurses use these on a daily basis to accurately measure the patient's pulse. While it is possible to feel a pulse without a stethoscope, the technology of this tool is still very valuable to doctors, nurses, and your child's play-acting.