[heartnurse1]

Littman Cardio III I love mine!

[RNMOMTO4]

I love mine. I also bought my Cardio stethoscope while I was in school. During one of my rotations I had to follow an RT around for the shift. We would both listen to LS and then I would report to her what I had heard. After listening to one pt. I had heard crackles throughout and she said they were clear. She borrowed my stethoscope and could not believe it. I don't know if she bought a new stethoscope after that but I was definitely convinced and reassured that I was not missing anything.

Originally Posted by lifeLONGstudent

CCU nurses,

What stethescope are you using and would you recommend it? I am starting BSN school soon and will need one. The cheap ones hurt my ears and I am contemplating getting a mediocre one now ($50-70) or just bitting the bullet and getting a really nice one (lithman Cardio $150).

Thanks for any input,
lifeLONGstudent

[LindaMarie76]

I posted a relatively similiar question the other month after my stethoscope developed legs and ran away. I tried other peoples' stethoscopes for a month and finally decided on the 22 inch Master Cardiology (versus 27 inch).

I love the 22 inch. It's wonderful. It also fits much nicer in my pocket and doesn't get caught in the bed rails when I am leaning over. AND I hear everything.

Bought it on AllHeart.Com and got it personalized.

Linda

[cardiacRN2006]

That is funny because the same thing happens to me in my clinicals. I often chart that I hear crackles, but the RN who has the cheese-ball steth always charts that the lungs were clear! I have a Littmann Cardilogy 3 and absolutely love it. I got it on amazon.com for $90!

[HillNPStudent]

I had used the Littman Lightweight for many years, from my first semester of nursing school till now. I finally broke down and bought a Littman Master Cardiology from Allheart.com. I am in grad school for my FNP and wanted something more advanced. Although I won't need it presently in the CCU (hopefully), it has an adapter to attach in order to better listen to pediatric patients. I chose it over the Cardiology III simply b/c of ergonomics; I liked the stainless steel outside and the feel of it better. I think it's simply a preference.

[JiffyGriff]

I have the Littman master cardiology (27"), I'm about to trim it a little bit though, it's gettin a little droopy as it has stretched out a bit from hangin around my neck. I love it. Reason I chose it versus the cardio III is that it doesn't have as bulky a chestpeice. You can use the same side as a diaphragm and bell, drops a little weight around the neck, and yes the tuneable diaphragm does work, you can def. hear the difference. Personally I don't think it's a waste of money to splurge on work equipment. You wouldn't want cops running around carrying a $50 knock off gun they bought at a trade show would you..........nope.

[JiffyGriff]

Originally Posted by Dixielee

My biggest complaint is that I have not been able to find a place to just order replacement tubing, but they sell the tubing and ear assembly as one preassembled set and you just replace your bell onto it. They are fairly pricy at about $70.

You can't find it because it can't be done. Those earpeices are a one peice assembly that are molded into the tubing...they are done that way to be adjustable with a clean appearance, no external spring. And if you could find tubing, trust me you can't get the ear peices in the new tubing.....I've tried. We had a nurse break her steth tubing in half one night...so i went and got an isolation scope and took the tubing and was gonna put her earpeices in it......I put the chestpeice on the tubing and then ended up having to just use the Iso scopes earpeices. I had to cut the earpeices from her current tubing and then tried to push them through the tubing with it straitened out.........It's like trying to shove a brick into a floppy disk drive.