Pediatric nursing question?

[Wrangler156]

Hey everyone,

I am currently on the pediatric floor and I was wondering does anyone know by what age we stop listening to a childs heart with the bell and convert to the diaphragm? Our teacher in SIM lab has asked us to look it up for the past week and I have went through my book, my ati book, and online and I can not seem to find anything. Do any of you all know? I know a lot of people on here are full of experience!

Also, in SIM lab we are currently having to know how to respond to an RSV baby admit, I can not seem to count fast enough for the heart rate, SIM is set at 180 beats/min I can barely hear it to start with under all the other sounds of the SIM and the air compressor going on and off the whole time, and I just can not count fast enough. Anyone out there have any tips or tricks?

Thank you!

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

Back when I was in Pedi, we used the bell till the heart/lung/abd sounds were far enough apart physically so that you did not hear them on top of one another. In other words, when the kid got old enough to have organs spread apart. I am not aware of any official age, but that does not mean there isn't one recommended somewhere.

If you can focus on the heart beat and count the rate for 10 seconds you can multiply x 6 to get a minute's worth. I do not recommend doing this on a really sick kid, but have done it for 10 seconds and sometimes 30 seconds x 2 on re-evaluations. The longer you listen the harder it is to separate the sounds. I can tell you this DOES get better with practice.