How To Properly Clean Your Stethoscope

Nurses Humor Toon

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The chemical I used to clean my stethoscope gave ma a rash. I hope no one notices.

Stethoscopes should be properly cleaned. How do you clean your stethoscope? Share your tips with the community.

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I'm going to be a student soon.

I've never been in a hospital to clinic long enough to see anyone clean their stethoscope. I just remember they use then it goes back on their neck. I do notice everyone washes their hands.

THANKS NURSES =] Oh, I think Clorax Disinfectant is something I would use. Bleach kills!

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\ said:
Do you pay for those wipes personally or does your hospital supply them? My hospital has "purple wipes" (I'm sure there's a name for them, but we just call them that because of the color of the lid on the cannister).

I work in a doctors office they supply them there. But when I was doing my clinical rotations I would use the same purple wipes you are talking about LOL.

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Specializes in PACU, presurgical testing.

I work in the PACU, so I wipe down my stethoscope with a couple of alcohol wipes after each patient. A colleague told me I should also put a cloth cover over the rubber tubing so it won't break down from keeping it around my neck all the time (I guess the acid in sweat can make the rubber harden and crack). Hoping I'm avoiding that by keeping it clean!

On the subject of COWs, we called them COWs in all my clinicals up until OB. Yeah, that didn't fly. :no:

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Specializes in LTAC, ICU, ER, Informatics.

I can hardly hear anything on the disposable steths they put in our patient rooms. So I carry mine, and wipe it down with the cavi wipes after each patient, or the bleach wipes if my pt has c diff. I'm probably speeding up the degradation of the tubing, and try to remember to rinse that gunk off with soap & water occasionally, but I'm prepared to buy a new steth every couple of years if I need to... I'm a little OCD about germs and don't want to take anything to my next patient, or home to my kiddo and pets (worked with a nurse who took c diff home to her dogs... ew)

We don't have COWs where I'm at, we have computers in each room, so I don't usually worry about wiping it down, but most of us wipe the nursing station computers down at the beginning of each shift - and it's mainly because the docs use them and they're not the best at hand hygiene. (ew.)

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(Medical student here, sorry to infiltrate your ranks) The hospital systems I have gone to would have both bleach and peroxide based cleaners available. I usually opt for the peroxide cleaners because I am terrified I will splash stuff on my clothes. What I will usually do with my stethoscope is that I will wipe a small dab of gel on the diaphragm of my scope just as I am also cleaning my hands.

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allthesmallthings said:
Hee hee. A wow is a cow, w/ a politically correct name. Anyway: workstation on wheels = wow; computer on wheels = cow. (Often spelled in all caps.) One of those computers w/ a little work/desk area, rolled around on wheels. Probably not all facilities have them. They're a newer thing, probably last 5-10 years. You can Google image it, probably.

Used to be called COW's, until some nurse called out, "The COW is in the room already," or something like that, and some overweight patient heard it, thought that the nurse was talking about HER (not about the computer), got offended, and raised heck. Now, we have to call them WOW's.

My non-nurse roommate thought that was hysterical.

I thought they were called COWS because ours are white with black monitors. Now I know what it stands for, thanks

1 Votes

Oh I like this topic!

I am very picky about my stethoscope and infection control in general. I've been called a germaphobe, but I don't care. It's not the germs I fear, but rather being a well-meaning vector of vigorous pathogens.

My usual technique is a good circular wiping of the diaphragm using a prep pad, and I do that in front of the patient even if they are unconscious. I get it good and wet then wave it a bit to evaporate some of it...then if it's going on the skin I say this might be a little bit cold due to the alcohol. Then, after use, I wipe down the head again. Some patients and family might even say thank you.

Generally yeah, it's not practical to wipe top to bottom with a bleach wipe every time, but I do wipe it down completely a few times per shift. I've also used a glove over the head as disposable cover if for some reason a disposable stethoscope isn't available in isolation, or if I really need a better listen than the disposable provides (then after I absolutely wipe down my entire stethoscope with bleach).

I don't put my stethoscope around my neck. In my opinion it's in the way there, plus it seems intuitively unhygenic. Rather my steth lives in my coat pocket, or if I am wearing pockety scrubs I'll stick it in a deep pocket.

Not to digress too much, but I also take a few seconds here and there to wipe down the pyxis, drug prep area, and the station keyboards and mice. Things that go a short period of time between people touching them. Just a personal preference to do that when I can, it only seems prudent. My view is that every person in the hospital should take ten seconds each shift and wipe down an area. With our little efforts combined the entire place would be so much cleaner.

Also captcdm, it's not infiltration and am glad to see ya check out as many things as possible. Why not?

1 Votes

Interesting. My stethoscope gets hairspray residue on the tubing and then my hair gets tangled in it. Any ideas?

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"Now I am going to clean my hands" hehe

I always remember my clinical lab instructor saying this when she did demonstrations.

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Specializes in Cardiac, NICU, CM.

I used alcohol pads to wipe my stethoscope, scissors, pens, phone, etc. For a deep clean, I’d use the purple wipes. I didn’t wear my stethoscope around my neck either because it was uncomfortable and didn’t want the rubber tubing to break down. I kept it in my cargo scrub pants pocket. ?

On 5/31/2013 at 3:10 PM, Hygiene Queen said:

Honestly, it's insulting... like nurses are filthy and like we have no problem having cootie hands and nasty equipment... not!!

If there are any non-nurses out there, know we wash our hands and clean our equipment, okay?

I don't want your cooties on my hands or on my steth around my neck.

Sorry, I got a bit off subject, but it was bothering me.

On topic, I use Sani-wipes!

My hospital has purchased badges for us to wear and the gel dispensers have sensors on them now to monitor the staff to see if we are "cleaning" our hands properly... talk about insulting and a waste of money.  

Also - if I can't find a pill cutter, which is often, I cut the pills in half w/my (clean) scissors while its still inside its packing.  Works great!

I was a dedicated Covid-19 nurse for over a year, I always used the Sani wipes on my steth and anything else, too.  

Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele/ER/Urgent Care.

I have never worn my stethoscope around my neck. My first one was a sprague-rappoport type that was very heavy, so I just hung it over my left shoulder. I carry my purse on left shoulder so it felt natural on my shoulder. And yes the oils from skin can deteriorate the tubing, another reason to use shoulder method. The past year I clean diaphragm with cavi wipes after each pt. My current stethoscope is about 30 years old, cardiology type, lippincott does not make this model anymore. I remember seeing stethoscope with a permanent “U” shape from being worn around neck.

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