RN student seeking opinion from pros about stethoscopes

[tutored]

Hi everyone, this question goes out to working RNs.....I am a nursing student, and my supportive husband (himself a doctor) has given me a wonderful, very expensive electronic cardiologists stethoscope - mainly because I have a hard time hearing through the regular ones, and this amplifies beautifully. Is this overkill, or should I just count my lucky stars for the generosity?

Thanks!

[athena55, BSN, RN]

Hi. I think it was a really sweet, wonderful idea and I agree your man certainly sounds like he "listens" to you.

I use a Littmann 3M electronic stethoscope (Model 4000WS). It is great plus it provides infrared data transmission of recorded sounds to either another Littmann electronic 'scope - same model, or an IBM compatible computer. Cool, huh?

Only one or two drawbacks to this particular 'scope: everyone wants to use it, and it is kind of heavy (and a bit awkward) to wear around ones neck, so I just slip it into my lab coat pocket or use one of those stethoscope holders (when I am riding the EMS bus as a volly EMT)

I had another type of electronic 'scope but one day I placed it on my patient's bedside table and a PGY2 thought it was a Doppler(????) and put KY jelly on it. Never worked right again, and the bloody thing cost one arm and two legs worth (late 1980's $$). This new stethoscope that I have, you can bet the farm that I don't let it out of my sight/pocket.

Good luck with your classes, clinicals and future nursing career.

"The only thing that Deaf/deaf/hard-of-hearing people

can't do, is hear"

[91CRN]

Hi,

Nice gift but realistically it IS overkill for a variety of reasons. First, stethoscopes are the first things to be "borrowed" by the interns and residents, not to mention your fellow nurses, (your lunch in the employee fridge is not safe either:). The one you are talking about is on the heavy side if memory serves. There is no reason on the planet you'll need one. Even in CCU, CVICU listening to heart tones is something the docs do. I know a lot of people out there will disagree on this but most nurses DON'T have the repeat, reinforced skills to be good at heart tones. Most of the ER docs I work with don't even pretend to be good at this. Listening for a nice S1, S2, any slurs clicks or rubs is fine. In my humble opinion the Littman cardiology 2 is the best, and I think around 100 to 150$--then again that last time I bought one was about 5 years ago. I also am slightly hearing challenged and I do just fine. I've lost in some way at least 10 stethoscopes over a 20 year career.