Buying a stethoscope before Nursing School

ATBStudent · Jun 12, 2014

The best stethoscope will probably cost you a few hundred. My school had certain specifications for ours though.... I would wait. Why spend $70+ just to find out it doesn't fit the program requirements?

If you want to prepare though. You could always find out what fundamentals book your program uses and read through... You could brush up on A&P or work through a dosages book.

Just_Kidney, ADN, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2014

I bought my stethoscope before I started nursing school and I love it. It's a Littmann II which run somewhere between $100 and $150 if I remember right. There are two schools of thought with buying it ahead, some people say buy a cheap one for school in case you lose it/damage it/decide you want a different one. I say nursing school is the time when you're learning what to listen for/how to listen to breath sounds, heart sounds, bowel sounds, etc. and you will probably use your stethoscope more during nursing school than you will once you graduate, so you might as well get a good quality one. There is, in my experience, a huge difference between cheap stethoscopes and more expensive ones. That being said, if, like JenniferLynWhat said, your program requires a certain one, then wait, or buy that one. If not, buy one with a non-classic color scheme so you can tell it apart from others, and put your name on it. You can loan it out (doctors and nurses in the hospital often don't have their stethoscope on them and love to borrow from students), but keep an eye on where it's going! Best of luck!

rob4546, BSN, MSN · Jun 13, 2014

. and you will probably use your stethoscope more during nursing school than you will once you graduate

Uhhhh, no. Not trying to be negative of difficult, but with shift assessments and possible problems that come up during the day as well as passing meds all day, you will use it a lot when you graduate.

There are many reasons why you should and why you shouldn't but give it a little thought about what stethoscope you might get. I would suggest a cheaper Littman because they are pretty good and are under 100 bucks (Littmann lightweight 2 se). I found it to be good at a reasonable price. There is always the possibility that it will get lost or damaged so factor that in. I ordered a much more expensive model that is engraved with my name, RN. You can not engrave it with RN until you finish nursing school and pass your boards.

Make sure you contact your nursing department to find out if there are certain specifications.

Just_Kidney, ADN, BSN, RN · Jun 13, 2014

I guess I was making assumptions based on how much I see nurses use stethoscopes in the hospitals, which is very rarely. I guess I just missed it. I stand corrected!

rob4546, BSN, MSN · Jun 13, 2014

I guess I was making assumptions based on how much I see nurses use stethoscopes in the hospitals, which is very rarely. I guess I just missed it. I stand corrected!

Wasn't trying to correct you in a negative way. I too have seen many nurses use their stethoscope very minimally. In the facility I had my clinicals at had a patient that was fed through a g-tube for some time and for over 2 days the nurses on duty never checked for bowel sounds before adding fluid to the pump. Make a long story short there probably was no or very little bowel sounds because fluid backed up and the patient aspirated on the solution. There is more to the story that proves very little was passing into the intestines. Three days later the patient passed and of course there was a big law suit. Protect yourself and protect your patient and always obtain information before applying interventions. Anyway, I didn't mean to step on any toes or hijack this thread. Sorry.