What is a B2 heart sound?...

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 3, 2005

Hi all,
I recently read a patient's chart in which his heart sounds were documented as S1 B2. I know this wasn't a mistake or a weirdly-written S or P because it was written legibly several times. Has anyone heard of a B2 heart sound?
Thanks!

Hello, mlr4,:Melody:

Sorry, I have never heard of a B2 heart sound....

jmgrn65, RN · Oct 3, 2005

I have never heard of it, I have worked cardiac for 13 years.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Oct 3, 2005

Me neither. Maybe it was mis-transcribed?

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 5, 2005

Probably meant S2 (even though the OP says it was clearly transcribed B2); that's what is referred to in all the literature.

mlr4 · Oct 5, 2005

Probably meant S2 (even though the OP says it was clearly transcribed B2); that's what is referred to in all the literature.

Thanks, everyone, for your responses! No, it was hand-written multiple times in the progress notes and very clearly and definitely said "B2." I have asked everyone and their mom about this and the closest I can get to an answer is a cardiologist who told me that he had never heard of it and that it was probably a "local euphemism." What good are euphemisms to people who come behind you?? It's like medicine's version of an inside joke. Except this inside joke could potentially hurt someone! Has anyone else ever seen local medical dialect or slang in their charts?

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 5, 2005

Thanks, everyone, for your responses! No, it was hand-written multiple times in the progress notes and very clearly and definitely said "B2." I have asked everyone and their mom about this and the closest I can get to an answer is a cardiologist who told me that he had never heard of it and that it was probably a "local euphemism." What good are euphemisms to people who come behind you?? It's like medicine's version of an inside joke. Except this inside joke could potentially hurt someone! Has anyone else ever seen local medical dialect or slang in their charts?

Yes, and it is MOST unprofessional. If this is a physician, you can show this to the NM, DON and see if this can be avoided in the future.

There is no place for this in the patient medical record. Just mention "LITIGATION" and maybe, just maybe, you will not see it again......

papawjohn · Oct 30, 2005

Hey Y'all

Was doing some self-assigned studying the other day. Ran across a ref to 'split S2' that described the Pulmonary Valve sound as P2. Thought of this thread....

'Course the original poster seems quite adament that it was B2. Which it seems none of us have ever heard of...

Papaw John

HillaryC, RN, CRNA · Oct 31, 2005

Could the B have been an ampersand (&)? As in, S1&2?

papawjohn · Oct 31, 2005

Hey Y'all

Re-reading all this...doesn't it remind us of the experience we've all had--carrying the chart from nurse to nurse, getting everyone's opinion of what the Dr wrote. I realized that we're doing it in cyberspace and "fell on floor, laughing out loud".

Papaw John

angelique777 · Nov 7, 2005

Not sure what it means but in a few articles in cardiology the term came up for example

Transient atrioventricular (A-V) conduction abnormalities are often experienced in patients with evolving acute viral myocarditis, but persistent complete A-V block requiring permanent cardiac pacing is rare. We describe a case who developed irreversible complete A-V block during the long-term course of Coxsackie B2 myocarditis. The endomyocardial biopsy revealed inflammatory cellular infiltrates and myocyte necrosis. A left ventriculogram and echocardiogram consistently demonstrated an aneurysm in the basal portion of the interventricular septum. It was speculated that the extensive myocardial scar caused by acute myocarditis resulted in the ventricular aneurysm of this particular myocardial region involving the A-V conduction system

Another article had these abreviations for classifying some blocks

B-1 Atrial Flutter

B-2 AV block

B-3 AV block & CRBBB

B-4 AV block (digital)

B-5 AV block (mobitz)

B-6 AV block (mobitz)

B-7 AV block (3:1&4:1)

B-8 AV & CRBBB

B-9 Paroxy atr tachy

B-10 AV Junc R (SVST)

B-11 AV Junc R (PAT)

B-12 AV Junc R

B-13 AV Junc Contraction

Ask again and see if a cardiologist is familiar with classifying blocks with this type of numbering

Good luck

Angela

papawjohn · Nov 7, 2005

Hey Y'all

A brief google of coxsackie b2 shows a few viral cardiac inflamations. Nothing that the Original Poster questioned.

Nice try. I tried too..."P2 Heart sounds..." but the original challenge is pretty specific.

Maybe withdraw the thread?

Papaw John