Stethoscope/BPcuff?

[FrogRN15]

I am not wanting to spend too much $ on these things... I know it has to be dual head? What do you have, how much was it, and do you like it?!

[RunninNurse]

That really depends on how hard you want to make assessments on yourself. I tried to be cheap when I started nursing school and bought a low-end stethoscope. Big mistake. When it came to assessing breath sounds I couldn't hear crap. I thought it was just me, but it was my horrible stethoscope. When I sucked it up and purchased a nice Littman ($100) my assessment skills went up. So, remember that bad equipment will make it harder on you when it comes to clinicals and lab skills. Chose something that will last.

[Jenngirl34RN]

My stethoscope is expensive (Littman Cardiology III), but my bp cuff was pretty inexpensive and it is cute. Here is the link. I chose the black one with pink hearts. Prestige Medical Aneroid Sphygmomanometer with Adult Cuff & Matching Carrying Ca

[Compassion_x]

The BP cuff I got for $15 (with a super cheap stethoscope), and works fine. I bought a Littmann Classic II SE with engraving for ~$100 and I love it. Much better than the super cheap ones.

[CountryMomma, ASN, RN]

I second the Littman Classic II SE - paid 80$ for mine on sale. I used a friend's Lightweight and just couldn't get with it. It felt cheap and sounded muffled. The stethys they sold at my campus bookstore were priced at 25$ and were really worth maybe half that. You pay for what you get. In the case of going cheap, you get to miss a lot of fine wheezing, slight rubs, and possibly quiet crackles. Good luck finding the antecubital pulses on an overweight client. No Korotkoff sounds for you!

As far as the BP cuffs go, I went super cheap. Bought them from here, it made it all through first semester before I threw it on the shelf because we didn't use them anymore. Didn't have any altered readings.

[Dranger]

Lol I work in critical care and have a Littman Lightweight, it works fine. I never understood why nursing students went out and bought these $250 stethoscopes. Unless you are some cardiologist you won't need it. A $15 dollar scope can hear rales, pleural effusions, rubs and rhonchi just fine...

[Dranger]

As an addendum, I am talking about stethoscopes for nursing students. If I really need to hear something I will borrow a colleagues for better sound to pick up murmurs or other little things. Then again I work in critical care. The lightweight is still fine for most RNs as well.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

I love my Littmann Cardiology III and it works great for when I work in triage and sometimes get pediatric patients in. My select is fairly good but I wanted one that I could use for pediatric patients.