Keeping my stethoscope from sprouting legs

BrandyBSN · Jul 24, 2001

Littan offers a name tag that is very VERY difficult to remove. It is steel reinforced, and can not be cut, or pulled off. It also comes with a name plate that littman will engrave if you ask them to, it LARGE black block letters. You can read it from down the hall.

If someone asks to borrow it, have them give you there license or credit cards. If they need it that bad, they should understand that you need to have collateral :)

Anyone who needs a scope to do their job should carry their own! Otherwise, they are just not prepared. Get a scope scrunchie (email me, and I will give you addresses of where to get them online) and keep it around your neck.

Personally, mine is a hunter green Cardio III from Littman, and the ID tag that I ordered and the scrunchie have kept it with me!

Good Luck

Brandy

mustangsheba · Jul 24, 2001

I had my first Littmann engraved inside the bell, and it still walked off. Now, I just never let my stethoscope out of my sight.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jul 25, 2001

A Wallet 0r a left shoe make good collateral too.

RNforLongTime · Jul 25, 2001

Well, I own a Littman Master Classic II SE and I keep it around my neck at all times! I recently purchased a scopecoat from http://www.allheart.com that was about 6$ to help protect the tubing from getting hard and stiff from where it sits around your neck. All stethoscopes walk whether its a 10 dollar cheapie or a 145 dollar Master Cardio! Mostly the Doctors are the culprits from what I've seen. I have had doctors ask to use mine and then they leave it in the patients room and I am left searching high and low for it. I will lend my scope only to certain MD's and make sure that I get it back! I actually had a doctor say that he thought that the scopes that were lying around were the hopitals property and that he didn't know that we had to purchase our own. Well, I filled him in rather quicky that the scopes that were hanging off of a rack belonged to us nurses and NOT the hospital. Alot of times the doctors have their own scopes and just never bother to bring them with them on rounds! Good Luck and keep your scope in your possession at ALL times as the one time you leave it lying around is the one time that it will be lost forever!

catlady, BSN, RN · Jul 25, 2001

I used to have a nice Littmann Cardiology II scope. I lent out my Sprague after I got the Littmann, and the nurse never gave it back. I asked her several times, but she ignored me. She didn't care, and she never offered to replace it.

I never let anyone use my Littmann unless I was in the room. If I couldn't be in the room the whole time, they couldn't have it. The doctors went along; it was one nurse who gave me a hard time about it. I didn't budge, and I never lost my scope, either.

oramar · Jul 25, 2001

There is this old nurses tale that goes like this. If you take the ugliest red nail polish that you can find and paint a big red spot on the diaphragm of a stethoscope is will never be stolen. I personally think it works.

nurs4kids · Jul 26, 2001

Something interesting that recently happened on our unit. One nurse never has a stethoscope, borrows everyone's. One nurse has an ear ache for a couple weeks, then another nurse had an ear ache..and so on. We finally determined that we were probably passing this around. The confusing thing was that we all thought we were cleaning the ear pieces after she used them. After watching for a few days, we realised she was picking them up and using them when the nurse wasn't paying attention, then returning it without cleaning it. I've started keeping mine on my neck AAT.

nurseleigh · Jul 26, 2001

WOW! I am starting nursing school Aug 20th and you all have taught me a valuable lesson. I would have never thought of having to keep such a close eye on my steth. I will definately keep mine around my neck at all times and invest in a nameplate for it. Thanks for the education.