Help with lung ausculation

Nursing Students Student Assist

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I am having the worst time with hearing lung sounds. I make sure I'm not placing my stethoscope over bone, but the only place I can seem to hear even normal lung sounds is on the mid-back. Everywhere else I just hear the heart or don't hear anything. Is this something I just need to keep practicing?

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How many people have you tried in? And are you placing your scope directly on the skin? If you have a double bell you can try flipping it as well. I have a hard time hearing anything with my cheap hard ear bud scope. My lit man has soft formalbe ear buds that block out other sound. Can you switch to soft ear buds? And is your scope angled into your ears properly?

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
How many people have you tried in? And are you placing your scope directly on the skin? If you have a double bell you can try flipping it as well. I have a hard time hearing anything with my cheap hard ear bud scope. My lit man has soft formalbe ear buds that block out other sound. Can you switch to soft ear buds? And is your scope angled into your ears properly?

Along these lines, I see students all the time with the ear buds angled posteriorly, make sure they are angled anteriorly.

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Specializes in CCRN, CEN.

Get an Ultra Scope. If that too weird looking for you then step up to Littman Cardiology III.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

While a good stethoscope like a CIII is a pod investment if you want to end up as an NP or working with cardiac patients, you should be able to hear lung sounds with and scope.

Practice and work on isolating sounds.

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OP, definitely invest in a good stethoscope. I highly recommend the Littmann classic I.I. SE. It has the best sound quality. Someone mentioned to make sure your ear buds are facing the correct way, this is VERY important. If they aren't facing the right way you will not be able to hear anything. Besides that, yes, it is most definitely something you need to keep practicing. Also, try to practice on more than one person if you can. I had difficulty with the lung exam at first (I remember bursting into tears in my mom's kitchen when I was practicing and couldn't seem to get it.) but now I find it to be one of the easiest exams to perform. Just keep trying!! I was able to pick up abnormal lung sounds (the pt had crackles) on a patient at clinical! I felt so accomplished; you will someday too. Nursing school seems to be a lot of tears to triumph. Keep your eyes on the prize!

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The other thing that may help, I just remembered from my first clinical day, turn off any disrupting noise. Our O2 compressor was on, so since the patient was stating fine at the moment, we turned it off for thirty seconds to assess lung sounds. It made a world of difference.

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