What stethoscope for L&D???

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

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:

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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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