Doctor stole my stethoscope

[ayejay09]

So, this week hasn't been fun. My lovely Litmann that I received as a Christmas gift has been stolen by a doctor. I've even gone so far as to post fliers around the unit. I know that many nurses have their stethoscope stolen. My thought is "If doctors are stealing our stethoscopes, why are the facilities not paying us for those EXPENSIVE things?" Take it out of their paychecks. Every stethoscope stolen results in money taken from their paychecks. Or make them pool money together to supply us stethoscopes.

Needless to say, I miss my stethoscope. Who else has these problems? How do you track your stethoscope down?

[BSN16]

Not exactly "stealing" it, but once i had a pt on c-diff isolation and i intentionally left my stethoscope hanging OUTSIDE the door and proceeded to use the disposable stethoscope in the room....here walks in a private practice doc using MY stethoscope that i had intentionally left outside the door for a reason ugh:mad:

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Not exactly "stealing" it, but once i had a pt on c-diff isolation and i intentionally left my stethoscope hanging OUTSIDE the door and proceeded to use the disposable stethoscope in the room....here walks in a private practice doc using MY stethoscope that i had intentionally left outside the door for a reason ugh:mad:

Well hanging your stethoscope outside on the door just asks for someone to take or mess with it.

I've never had my stethoscope messed with. If a doctor or anyone asks, I give them a cheapy.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I've lost a couple of stethoscopes. Once, a resident plucked it right off my neck without asking, listened to breath sounds and then walked off the unit with it while I still had my hands full cleaning the patient. He was a senior resident on a consulting service, and I never saw him again. That was an expensive dark grey Littman Cardiology scope. I replaced it with a dark green one that I never wore around my neck. If I wasn't using it, it was in my pocket, in my bag at the nurse's station or sometimes hidden out of sight in a drawer.

My husband, who has lost several stethoscopes (misplaced, put down and forgotten or lent to residents on purpose) lent his to an attending cardiologist who walked off with it. "I don't want to bother him about it," he told me. "He'll bring it back. But can I borrow yours for the shift?" I NEVER lend my stethoscope, EVER. But this was my husband. So after extracting promises that he wouldn't wear it around his neck, lend it to anyone or leave it lying around, I lent it to him. When I came back to work at the end of his shift, he had lost it. Had no idea where it was. I was FURIOUS. I made him order me a new one from Littman and find me a scope to use for the shift. And I've never let anyone -- even my husband -- use my scope since. When someone asks to borrow it, I produce a cheap isolation scope for them to use, and if they insist that they'd rather borrow mine, I claim to have a recurrent ear infection that I just can't shake.

About a year after my husband lost my scope, a strange resident came on the unit with a familiar dark green Littman with red tape around the tubing. I was pretty sure it was mine from the tape, but seeing my name engraved on the bell when he put it on the patient's chest sort of clinched it. The resident insisted it was HIS, that his family had given it to him. I waited until his attending was present and then I asked to see his stethoscope. He was kind of boxed in there, and sure enough, "Ruby Vee" was engraved right there for all to see. He didn't have much choice but to give it back when his attending was watching. He complained about "what am I supposed to use?" And was nasty to me for the length of his residency, and one time muttered "Thanks for embarrassing me in front of my attending" to me. I told him I wouldn't have to have embarrassed him in front of his attending if he had just returned my stethoscope to me when it was clear it had my name on it.

Losing stethoscopes is a common thing. Having one walk away around someone else's neck is a common thing, and it's usually physicians who take them. Residents and even attending a will "borrow" sthethescopes and "forget" to return them. When I took a parent to a cardiologist's office years ago, every MA and CNA in the office was wearing a stethoscope engraved with the name of one of my CCU colleagues who had previously had a scope go missing.

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

In convenience stores they sometimes tape plastic plastic picnic spoons or forks to the pens at the checkout counter to prevent people walking off with them.

Sigh. If only you'd taped a plastic spoon to the bell of your stethoscope, you wouldn't be crying to us now.

[Garden,RN, ASN, RN]

I am very protective of my stethoscope, for that reason and because i want to keep mine clean. If you know who it may have been I would ask. it is possible that someone accidently took it and you may recuperate it. It also is possible anyone, including a patient could have taken it.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

Physicians are the LAST people I let touch my litmann! Chances are he/she will lay it down somewhere and someone else will walk off with it

[NotYourMamasRN]

I left mine on a COW once and my awesome coworkers hung it in our Stethoscope Lost and Found, that was pretty nice and I was happy I did not have to buy another.

[Garden,RN, ASN, RN]

At the risk here of losing all my dignity for asking this question, is a COW something really obvious that I do not know about on a floor, or was it a real moo moo cow. I have been out of inpatient care for several years.

[Conqueror+, BSN, RN]

I never lend mine to anyone. They think you are kind of a....at first but then they learn not to ask you. The thought of sticking someone elses ear smear into my head is beyond gross.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

At the risk here of losing all my dignity for asking this question, is a COW something really obvious that I do not know about on a floor, or was it a real moo moo cow. I have been out of inpatient care for several years.

COW = computer on wheels

Although some facilities have changed them to WOWs (workstation on wheels) because patients thought they were being referred to as cows!

[beckyboo1, BSN, RN]

At the risk here of losing all my dignity for asking this question, is a COW something really obvious that I do not know about on a floor, or was it a real moo moo cow. I have been out of inpatient care for several years.

It's a computer on wheels

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

Next time:

- buy it bright. The more neon, the better.

- buy a yoke name tag

- one side of the name tag, engraving of your full name AND title. Saying to the world "RN".

- on the opposite side of the tag, place a few Swarowski crystal cabs, as bright and contrast in color as possible

- if you have model like Littmann Master with whole metal head, engrave it too and place one cab in your favorite shape. Use the strongest moment glue for fixing cabs.

Among docs (and providers in general) it is considered to be absolutely professional no-no to decorate stetoscopes in any way but engraving. So, the blinkier and brighter the thing, the less chances that somebody would like to "borrow" it.