single sided stethoscope ok for student and first year RN?

[northmississippi]

Do you ever actually use both sides of your scope? I see some single sided scopes that I think would be nice. I have to get one for cna class, and I'd like to have it to use for RN school in fall also. Thanks.

[j_tay1981]

At my school a couple students use a single-sided Littmann, but I had several teachers tell me that a double side (with the bell or a peds diaphragm) was preferred so you could use them in the peds rotation as well as listen for bruits in the neck more easily. One teacher works part time in cardiology and she says she use the bell all the time to listen for various heart sounds. I guess I'm saying I would go with a double-sided scope for school.