I was just informed that at some hospitals, there are stethoscopes at every patients bedside that all health care professionals share. It freaks me out! The very thought that I have to put something in my ears that a bunch of other people use turns my stomach. Does anyone else's hospital do this? If so, besides alcohol wipes how would you clean it?

You could wipe it down at the beginning of your shift with those Virex wipes, if your facility has them.

Yes, all pts in isolation at all five hospitals where I practice use communal stethoscopes. I always load up my lab coat pockets and alcohol wipe each steth before and after I use them.

Otherwise, I'm with you - ugh!

IF you have your own can't you just use that and clean between patients

I was about to say the same...use your own and clean well in between...at least you know it was only you that used it.

Apparently at these hospitals, you are not allowed to use your own...

Like others have said...stock up on alcohol wipes @ the beginning of your shift and clean the scopes before using them.

We use them. I guess I don't sweat it a whole lot since I know most of the people pretty well that I work with--and we're by the bedspace the whole day so I know who uses them. I still wipe it down at the beginning of the shift when I'm cleaning the bedspace for infection control, but the idea of sharing doesn't freak me out.

Each of our bedsides has a dedicated stethoscope. At the start of each shift I wipe the scope and everything else with the wipes. In between I use alcohol pads-

Yeah, we do the dedicated stethoscope thing, and we're not allowed to use our own. I wipe it down and it doesn't bother me.