student with mild hearing loss

Nurses Disabilities

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i am a first year registered nursing student, and i suffer with mild hearing loss.

while attending my first quarter nursing classes, we began using our stethoscopes. i can hear blood pressure sounds well but have a hard time listening to the heart.

so the main reason for me posting was to get advice on an electronic stethoscope. i have seen the littmann 3000 and the thinklabs ds32a.

does anyone have any opinions on these models?

any other advice would be much appreciated.

That really sounds cumbersome! Especially if aides are in both ears... Is it just easier to not wear the aides??? I can easily see myself dropping things on the floor, batteries then rolling away, me crawling around while the patient sits there wondering what is so hard about a BP check....:bugeyes:

Is this the only way? Perhaps I should start practicing graceful removal of hearing aides! ;)

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Well, I find that I really need my aid (one in the right ear) mostly for work and television. I'm no longer clinical, but it's rare that a BP is done with a manual cuff. You'd remove them mostly to check abdominal, long, and heart sounds. So while collecting say 0800 vitals you put them into a secure pocket (the suckers are expensive) and put them back in when you're done.

I have gotten really accustomed to being able to hear speech clearly, and to hear all of it, which I couldn't do for decades. I wouldn't go back. But when I don't need to hear I take the aid right out - the world is annoyingly noisy, and I understand better than I did why deaf or blind folks don't necessarily feel deprived.

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I have BTE aides. My audiologist had a special set of molds made for the scope. I use an E scope. These molds have the "vent hole", as all hearing aides do, and there is a pocket made in that area specifically fit to the tips for my scope. I put the scope tips in this pocket (or pit) and the amplification of the scope goes through the vent hole and to my ears that way.

I just started with a scope today and I have so far two drawbacks.

1. The scope is fairly heavy, therefore has a tendency to slide out of these pits. I think a small shelf on the lower part of mold would stop the sliding.

2. Since I am basically bypassing the aid itself with these pits in the molds, I can leave the hearing aides in place, which is great since I don't have to fear losing them. BUT, I haven't turned them off and therefore hear ALL noises that I would hear whether listening for sounds or not. When a person without aids puts the scope tips in their ears, it does muffle some of the outside noise, making hearing those sounds easier. I haven't quite figured out how I am going to handle this because if I actually turn the aids OFF, then I wouldn't be able to hear anything at all except what is coming through the scope.

In any case, if you have in ITE aids, the Escope offers earphones that plug in to the unit and you can just put the earphones on over your aids!

Another offer is a plug in device that works on BTE's, but it requires modification of the BTE aid. Plus, you would have to stop and plug in the scope to your aides.

Just some thoughts

That really sounds cumbersome! Especially if aides are in both ears... Is it just easier to not wear the aides??? I can easily see myself dropping things on the floor, batteries then rolling away, me crawling around while the patient sits there wondering what is so hard about a BP check....:bugeyes:

Is this the only way? Perhaps I should start practicing graceful removal of hearing aides! ;)

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The site listed below is fake! The actual site would be dot org as in

[ .org ]

Be careful!

I didn't get along w/ my nursing school very well. I graduated in May 2007 and I am taking the boards again in Feb. My instructors were not very understanding about my hearing loss at all. Many of them told me to my face that I wouldn't make a good nurse and that I would not pass the boards.

But my office of disabilities services coordinators were AWESOME!! They are the reason I got through nursing school. I'd recommend getting an opinion from a medical doctor. (When I took my pre-nursing physical I had to get an amplified stetoscope or else I wouldn't be allowed into the program.) And just google amplified stetoscopes online. Another good website to check out would be www.amphl.com, its a website for medical professionals w/ hearing loss. And they have stetscope recommendations on their site.

:redpinkheStay strong,

Stacey

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