Stethoscope for School

I dunno whats necessary but I know the littman lightweight II is suggested a lot here....I just happened to see that the lilac one will be on amazon's daily deals today....looks like starting at 6:00pm is you have prime and probably 6:30 if you don't for anyone looking. Not sure what the deal price will be but regular price is $44.95 soooo it will be discounted from there....

It's necessary to hear adequately so that you get a good assessment and so that you are able to learn and distinguish different sounds. You don't have to pick the most expensive stethoscope, but, you certainly will want a quality stethoscope. As the PP said the Littman Lightweight II is usually adequate for students.

To really hear murmurs you need a Littman Master Cardiology. A good investment for anyone working in a Critical Care area.

I agree with getting a littman and get the most expensive one you can afford. I have the S.E.II and it works great for me. My friend has the cardiology III and there really is a difference in what you can hear. I dont have the money for one of those, and as of yet, my inexperience means I wouldnt know what I was hearing with the better steth anyway. But maybe in the future. I had mine engraved and the total cost was around $75. So far I can hear pretty well with it.

Yeah, I've been looking at the SE II for school. I figure later on down the road I can splurge if I want! :)

I just checked out the amazon deal....it is $35.47 on the lightning deal then there is a $5.00 coupon you can click to apply at check out making it $30.47....a great deal IMO

Be careful on Amazon! They are not an authorized Littman seller. I bought one off amazon, and it was definitely a fake. Felt much too light versus the real thing. Luckily, Amazon has an awesome return policy, so I got all my money back. Here are the authorized dealers, according to 3M webpage:

Where to Buy Littman Stethoscope

Do you know anybody that graduated your program? Littmann sent our school a bunch of samples and we could try/use them in our first weeks of lab and buy what worked for us. Not sure if this is common. I would find out if your program does the same.

I found that the cheapest ones didn’t work as well as I wanted but the cardiology ones weren’t necessary as a student.

People in my program that didn't get a Littman regretted it and upgraded the next year. So if you look at it that way, you might as well spend the money now (if that makes sense). I agree you don't need the cardio III but the lightweight or SE classic II. I bought the classic and did not regret it for a moment. I probably spent $80. It's worth the investment honestly.

I prefer my ultrascope and MDF over littman. I haven't used my littman in forever. I've recently been told the welch Allyn is amazing.

There are better stethoscopes out there than littman.

For nursing school, you are going to only need to learn the basics. To that end, you really don't need to spend more than about $75 on a stethoscope that you'll use throughout school and into the first part of your nursing practice. Due to my own background, I would have easily done just fine using a very cheap $12 dual-head stethoscope. I think I've got three of those...and I wouldn't miss 'em if I lost 'em.

To that end, I would recommend just about any stethoscope made by a decent manufacturer that costs between $35 and $75 that has acoustic sensitivity that is similar to a Littmann Classic II S.E. I will also state that the Lightweight is also a decent choice. Several of my classmates used one for their entire school experience and had only good things to say about it.

My own personal "primary" stethoscope is a Littmann Cardiology III and it's been in service with me for about 15 years now. It's never walked away from me because I never lend it out and I always keep it in one of two places: in my pocket or steth holder, or it's in my ears being used. I don't leave it lying around as it will likely quickly grow legs.

Whatever stethoscope you choose, make darned sure that you're comfortable replacing it with a like-kind if it does grow legs. I happened to buy my Cardiology III many years ago when I did have that kind of money around.

I agree with Irish on the Ultrascope. I have a Littman Classic II SE and a Maxiscope by Ultrascope. The Maxiscope is only $45-$50 on amazon.com and it is much better than the Littman... I can hear more sounds with it, even through clothing and ::ahem:: extra tissue. The only drawback is that it's a bit heavier.