What stethoscope for L&D???

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Hello all! I will be starting in L&D soon (hopefully... just waiting for HR to make the call to me!). When I shadowed, I noticed ALL of the LD nurses had pediatric stethoscopes. I have a Littman Cardiology III. I don't mind buying another one, but I did run into a situation where a young lady came into our triage area- and had an awful congested cough. Well, the LD nurse I was shadowing actually used MY stethoscope to listen to her.

So is it necessary and worth it to buy the pediatric stethoscope? :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

check w/the unit. Some have steths there for your use...including pedi's. Otherwise, I am a true Littman fan.

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Specializes in Nurse Education, Obstetrics, Surgery.

Stick with your Littman. It's surprising to see how many L&D nurses don't carry their own stethescope but when they need one, they'll hunt you down for yours. Also, I have always wondered how did they do their physical assessments without having one in the first place? Especially the nurses recovering a post op c/s patient.

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I've got the same stethescope you have, and I work Mom/Baby. You don't need to buy a separate peds one, since the Cardiology III has the optional peds side instead of the bell.

Good luck! Hope HR calls you soon!

Megan

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You really don't need the peds steth in L&D IMO. I would find it odd that all those nurses used a peds steth.

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i just started in l&d, and i use the littman cardiology iii as well. (it's nice to have both the adult and pediatric sides on one stethoscope). at my hospital, they keep a neonate stethoscope on every warmer which many of the nurses and neonatologists choose to use. i guess it's all a matter of personal preference, but the cardiology iii that you have is an excellent multi-functional stethoscope.

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Where I work now every newborn gets their own stethoscope which hangs on the crib for assessments. This is for infection control. Some are peds, most are adult size. If I don't have my own,I will use those on moms also since it is their baby(unless it is a peds one). I have my own in my bag, but since we can't use it on the babies I seldom carry it. At my last job I always carried my own, and I did wonder how anyone could chart an assessment without it. BTW I also have a littman lightweight II SE

I have been told SO MANY times.."you're the only one who listened to my lungs...or looked at my stiches...etc"

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