Can You Do General Assessments w/ single head Cardio?

nola_guy1981 · Feb 21, 2010

yes you can hear bowel and lung sounds from a cardiology scope a scope is a very personal thing but you may get better mileage from the dual head cardiology one it has the bell and a pedi diaphragm the pedi part def comes in handy but that's more about the pedi head than the bell the bell is not as useful as you'd think

j_tay1981 · Feb 24, 2010

Thanks for the reply!

Anybody else use a single-head or Cardio-style stethoscope for general assessments or even in nursing school? Would I get good use out of the Kila brand over some of the Prestige Sprague-styles? The Spragues work well when its quiet but when is it ever quiet when you need to auscultate ? :)

j_tay1981 · Feb 27, 2010

Well like a good spender, I bit the bullet and bought a Kila labs single-head cardio model off of ebay for ~$49.00. It came in the mail today and I've been playing with it. Kila has a nice presentation to be sure: opening the box the steth looks really nice, like twice the price that I paid for it at least. It came with extra ear tips, diaphragm and a name tag. It's an attractive-looking scope; the single head is really beautiful to look at: a polished stainless steel look. And good Lord is that thing heavy! Seriously, this thing could be a weapon! I've got some cheaper Spragues that don't bother me but this is definitely a solid chunk of metal. The tubing is thick and heavy as well.

The nice thing about this scope is that it is very comfy in the ears. The ear tips seal out extraneous noises and feel like two pillows in my ear canals. Very nice!

As for sound sensitivity - everything sounds nice and clear, but I wasn't blown away by the sound on this scope. Maybe I'm expecting too much from my equipment (I'm a student so I'm not using very practiced ears). I've never owned a cardiology or a single head scope so I cannot compare it to a like model. It sounds louder than my Prestige Spragues and my Littmann Lightweight. To put it another way, I have always had problems listening to the pulmonic area of the anterior thorax during auscultation. I just cannot seem to reliably hear the S2 sounds. But I can hear it fairly well with this scope (FWIW)

I'm not disappointed in the steth by any means, however. If you don't mind the extra weight, it's a good buy for nurses and students out there. The price is right and the comfort and clarity are present. It also feels like a solid, hefty instrument that could withstand some abuse.

Hope this helps some people out there!

Peace!

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Feb 27, 2010

Of course. Place the scope gently for the bell and put pressure for the diaphragm. For school you do not need a fancy stethoscope. Wait until you graduate and find out if you are going to be in a specialty before you buy anything else. Cardiology/teley need good stethoscopes. I have a Cardiology III because one end is adult and one end is ped and I work OB. Unless it is a preemie, which we do not have much of, I do not have to run around with two stethoscopes around my neck.

j_tay1981 · Feb 28, 2010

HeartsOpenWide,

Thanks for the reply! I bought a single head cardio scope off of eBay but it doesn't have a tunable diaphragm like the Littmanns do. So far I DO like it but it is heavy around the neck. Do you really use the bell much in practice? I hesitated before purchasing a single-head cardio steth over the traditional for this reason...

So far, though I like the scope and it's from a lesser-known company (Kila) so the cost was low for me. We'll see how long it lasts, but it does seem pretty sturdy FWIW, and the acoustics are great on it.

Anyways, thanks!

John