What type of stethoscope should I buy?

How much does it cost, $500?

I'd need an electronic one b/c my ears get distracted by outside noises.

I basically need one for detecting heart murmurs and lung sounds, so I can perform a brief H & P on my patients before I perform the echocardiogram. The presence of wet rales can seriously impact a cardiac patient's E & M, and lend credence to a finding of increased left atrial pressure, meaning that it's so high as to cause the pulmonary capillaries to leak from increased hydrostatic pressure. Which generally means the patient either needs to be put on Lasix, or their dose needs to be upped.

Well, I can't use my Mom's, which is over 20 years old, hot pink (I am NOT running around the hospital wearing that!), and falling apart (the tube is nearly corroded).

I'll probably also get a chance to work on telemetry, b/c my program director says EKG techs (for the first two semesters, we're working towards our EKG technician certification and learning cardiovascular pathophysiology and pharmacology as well; the next two semesters we start ECHO training. At the end, we earn our AS in Cardiovascular Technology and become registry-eligible). What's it like? Is it 90% boredom, 10% sheer terror?

By your picture, do you work in CA, FL, or Hawaii? I'll be working in CA, hopefully at LB Memorial Heart and Vascular Institute.

What's an average day like? Are Swan-Ganz catheter pts on telemetry?