Stethoscope Bling?

Nursing Students General Students

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Hello there,

Quick question for anyone who has already had some clinical experience. I was just accepted to my ADN program for Fall 2015 (yay!) and as a congrats gift my family bought me a stethoscope along with a really cute charm chain that hangs from it. I'm just wondering, are these charms allowed in nursing school/clinicals/hospitals? Being where it is located on the scope, I don't see how it would ever really come in direct contact with a patient but I could see why maybe some facilities would be worried about it not being sterile? Anyone have one of these and does your school/facility allow it?

Thanks!!

Specializes in CVOR, CVICU/CTICU, CCRN.
GrnTea I would rather have a diva nurse all blinged up take care of me over a nurse with a holier than thou attitude like yours. You're ridiculous.

Really? Just, really? I sincerely hope you considered your audience while writing that response. Personal attacks won't earn you any brownie points, especially against a poster the majority of us hold in high regard. Regardless, keeping responses respectful or at least diplomatic is a great way to maintain a good rapport with the AN community.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
Ok, so I had to look. I love bling in the right amount. OP those are super cute!! And for everyone worrying about infection control they are made with an antimicrobial metal and slip right off to be cleaned. I thought maybe they dangled and a patient could possibly get ahold of one and hurt someone but they can't. They are perfectly fine OP. I might get one myself.

The issue IMO is not infection control, its putting something on the tubing may well impair your ability to hear vital heart and lung and any other body sounds.

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GrnTea, I think you're taking my post completely the wrong way. Like I said, the charm was a gift from my family and includes charms that have great meaning to me...therefore it is special to me personally, I am definitely not using it in hopes that my patients think I am better, that's just silly. I am a mature adult and I don't appreciate being told that I am acting like a middle schooler. I am taking nursing and my education completely seriously, wanting to use a simple charm on my stethoscope should not make anyone think otherwise. I suppose scrubs with patterns and brightly colored stethoscopes would bother you too, because they're too "cute"? I understand you must have quite a bit more experience in the nursing profession than I do, but I don't think that gives you any right to put me down for asking a simple question.

You're focusing on the wrong points here, it's not about whether or not a charm looks cute, it's about whether or not it will affect your abilities. Even if there's only a *slight* chance of the charm rattling and interfering with auscultating the finer sounds, that's reason enough to not put one on the stethoscope.

And though no one asked, I'm also going to agree with others who've said that, outside of peds, printed scrubs and glitzed up stethoscopes or anything else like that is silly and unprofessional. Fair or not, my first impression of a nurse with charms dangling from her stethoscope is not a good one.

(This is a public forum, remember, you're gonna get answers you don't like)

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Agree, manual BP skills are crucial but other assessment skills such as skin color, capillary refill and level of consciousness would also be helpful in determining if a patient is crashing.

I really hope you're just listing assessment skills for general edification..... Cause otherwise it kinda sounds like you're saying we should be okay with tools (such as stethoscopes) not working properly because if anything really bad is going on, there'll eventually be gross visual signs of distress anyways. And that would be a nursing fail. :)

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Specializes in ICU.

I'm not sure how it interferes with hearing sounds. Maybe if two clanged together? Maybe you guys need to go look at them. I think people are not really envisioning what these are. When I first thought of what they were I was thinking like actual charms. That's not what these are.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
I'm not sure how it interferes with hearing sounds. Maybe if two clanged together? Maybe you guys need to go look at them. I think people are not really envisioning what these are. When I first thought of what they were I was thinking like actual charms. That's not what these are.

I've seen them thanks, not my cup of tea.

I'll use a blood pressure for example. Mainly coz thats the first one that comes to mind at 0530

As you put the cuff into place, and locate the stethoscope on the brachial artery pay attention to the sounds of the BP cuff tubing rubbing over the stehescope, and how the patients clothing makes a rustle sound as it connects with the stethoscope tubing.

Imagine with all that extra background noise when you are trying to find the weak thready pulse of a new admission to check their BP

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.

Also, please go and practice your manual BPs please then you may understand what the potential problem with these things is

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Specializes in ICU.

Seeing as how I've been doing manual BPs since the 7th grade which was I think 1987, I have a pretty good idea on how it works Tenebrae. So, take your holier attitude elsewhere. I'm well aware of how a stethoscope works and what to hear thank you very much. Oh that's right, I'm just a student so therefore I can't possibly know anything. I haven't had any issues with my cardiology III and so I fail to understand how one charm at the end of her tubing interferes. Heck, I've seen people with spiral things that go the whole way up. Find something else to worry about in life.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Okay back to the subject at hand please.

BTW just for everyone's knowledge, although manual BPs are still taught in school, there is new literature that an automated BP is actually more accurate.

The quality and accuracy of automated office blood pressure in relation to the awake ambulatory blood pressure was also significantly better when compared with manual office blood pressure.

Conventional versus automated measurement of blood pressure in primary care patients with systolic hypertension: randomised parallel design controlled trial

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To the OP, congratulations on your acceptance to your program!

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MME20, Thank you!! I'm SO excited. :)

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Specializes in ICU.

I will reiterate what I said in the beginning. OP, your family gave you a thoughtful gift that means something to you. I went to the website to see what the were and how they were used, and I don't think it would interfere at all. As always, check with your program. I would ask prior to a day you use it in the lab. Good Luck and have fun. It's a crazy ride, but I can finally see the light as I graduate next May!!!

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