Stethoscope picking

Started by 4th year MedStu
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stethoscope
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4th year MedStu

New Member
Hey guys
So I'm gonna need to buy an stethoscope for my next semester
Everyone I know has a Littmann
But one of my friends gave me a Welch Allyn classic II as a gift
Is it as good as Littman? Or do I have to buy one?
 
Either is fine, it didn'td matter anyways. I've been using an isolation stethoscope for the past year and I've been fine.
 
throwaway1939 said:
Either is fine, it didn'td matter anyways. I've been using an isolation stethoscope for the past year and I've been fine.
Click to expand...

Isolation stethoscope? If its anything like my hospital, those are pieces of plastic that don't actually work. I'd rather contract a virus than try to make a medical decision based on using one of those.
 
pawprint said:
Isolation stethoscope? If its anything like my hospital, those are pieces of plastic that don't actually work. I'd rather contract a virus than try to make a medical decision based on using one of those.
Click to expand...

99.9% you should already know what decision you are going to make before you examine the patient.
 
The WA is fine. Both it and the Littmann are good. I think there is value in learning on good equipment. Early on, it's good to know that if you aren't hearing something that it isn't just poor equipment but rather just inexperience and poor technique. It's still frustrating, but at least you know to keep trying and that eventually you will get it; with crap scopes, you always wonder if you're limited by the tool itself rather than your ability to use it.

Once you know what you're doing then using an isolation scope or something else cheap is probably fine for most applications.
 
4th year MedStu said:
Hey guys
So I'm gonna need to buy an stethoscope for my next semester
Everyone I know has a Littmann
But one of my friends gave me a Welch Allyn classic II as a gift
Is it as good as Littman? Or do I have to buy one?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you want a Littman and hold the brand in high regard.

I personally prefer my WA Harvey Elite over my Littmann cardiowhatever.

At the end of the day I probably just need a $65 stethoscope.
 
old school or bust
stethoscope_main.jpg

stethoscope,%20monaural,%20Fergusson's,%20MAW,%20London.jpg
 
I have a $20 MDL stethoscope. I was able to take a BP and hear heart murmurs with it. I lose my stuff all the time. A $200 littman getting lost would give me some serious anxiety.
 
I've heard from others they tend to put the WA above Littmann scopes. I haven't used a WA personally.
 
throwaway1939 said:
99.9% you should already know what decision you are going to make before you examine the patient.
Click to expand...

"Chest pain? Straight to cath you go."

Those plastic isolation ones suck. They're good enough this day and age, though, where everyone has the trigger finger on imaging. Hear something weird in the lungs? CT. Hear something weird with the heart? Echo.
 
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