Found out about CNA's and stethoscopes

[TazziRN]

I had my daughter ask her teacher. The students were told not to get stethoscopes because she doesn't want them to get in the habit of wearing one around her neck....danger of being strangled. When she said that I had a vague recollection of being told the same thing. She said she knows that no one in nursing follows that once they're actually working, but for school purposes she's going to follow instructions. Hubby and I decided to wait until she gets into nursing school to get her one.

[Quailfeathers]

Wow, how interesting. I'm a student and will be passing this info on to my classmates! Great advise from the nurse about infectious control and the tubing, too. Gotta love this site:flowersfo

[TazziRN, RN]

Uh......I may be wrong (I'm just a lowly ER nurse, never worked in-pt) but if a pt has anything that infectious diseases needs to be involved in, then the pt should be in isolation, no? And if that is the case, there should be an isolation scope to be used on that pt only, no?

[Larry77, RN]

I'd like to see proof that we would catch an infectious disease d/t not cleaning our stethascope tubing and carrying it around our necks. My thought would be most "bugs" do not live outside the body for very long and we would have to have some break in the skin. I'm sure it is possible but what are the odds? I think we have a much higher chance of catching all the airborn bugs just by our direct contact with pt's.

Are you going to touch the patients secretions with your steth tubing then accidently lick it? If so...you deserve the bug...lol.

I do agree that for many reasons it is not smart to carry a steth around your neck I just don't agree with the infection control reason :)