Stethoscope suggestions

[Rimagine]

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Hey guys,
I am thinking of buying a new stethoscope. My current one has served me well, but it is beginning to fall apart. What brand and model do you guys suggestion? I definitely do not want to spend more than $150, and ideally around $100 for a good one that'll last me through residency. Thanks a lot.

 

[Trogghunter]

In my experience I've tried littmann classic se, cardio master, and cardio 3 on the same patients in wards and icu. I personally am big into the physical exam. The bigger diaphragms just give me more distortion and I prefer having an actual bell....thus I love my classic(cheap) but I'm gonna get one with wider tubing if I can. No one wants to steal a classic, and replacement parts are cheap on amazon.

'Its about what's between the earpieces'

 

[serialsevens]

jk...kinda

 

[babdoc]

I'd hazard everyone would agree: Littmann is the best brand. I'll go against Trogg. I had a Cardio III that was lifted in the hospital. I replaced it with a cardio master and really like it. Great for heart and lung sounds. Not as good as a bell for abdomen and bruit auscultation. But really, for the stomach, you're just looking for bowel sounds or not.

 

[gutonc]

I'd hazard everyone would agree: Littmann is the best brand. I'll go against Trogg. I had a Cardio III that was lifted in the hospital. I replaced it with a cardio master and really like it. Great for heart and lung sounds. Not as good as a bell for abdomen and bruit auscultation. But really, for the stomach, you're just looking for bowel sounds or not.

The only people who agree with you are the ones that haven't used a Harvey DLX yet.

 

[jdh71]

The only people who agree with you are the ones that haven't used a Harvey DLX yet.

I was about to say the EXACT same thing

 

[jdh71]

But it's not cheap.

 

[gutonc]

But it's not cheap.

Meh...it's about the same price as a Master Cardio and unlike the Master, it has a real bell, not one of those bulls**t "tunable diaphragms" that nobody who doesn't work for or own stock in Littman believes actually works. It costs about $50 more than a Cardio III...it's worth about $250 more.

But let's be honest, for most people, the stethoscope serves as an opportunity to get a patient to shut up for 2 minutes about the bad clams that Aunt Ethel ate last weekend, while you think about what the echo and CT scan results you read just before you walked into the room mean for the patient's symptoms. You can do that with one of those Mickey Mouse plastic C-Diff-o-scopes.

 

[flipmd]

'Its about what's between the earpieces'

True. But I also can't hear jack auscultating the lungs using the standard Littman, especially in obese people. The heart .... with any stethoscope all I can say if they have a systolic or diastolic murmur. Never did quite learn all the fancy schmancy stuff. That's what the TTE is for LOL.

I personally use the WA DLX and find it great. Like it better than the Littman Cardio

 

[babdoc]

To each his own...

 

[Sparda29]

Holy **** these are expensive. I thought most of y'all just used like the $10 stethoscopes from the discount medical shops online.

 

[babdoc]

They do sell the disposable isolation stethoscopes at the drug store.

 

[throw away]

Holy **** these are expensive. I thought most of y'all just used like the $10 stethoscopes from the discount medical shops online.

My advice: get a good stethoscope. I have a good one (Harvey for $200) and I hear murmurs that were missed by everyone else on at least a weekly basis. I'm NOT exaggerating and I'm not even particularly good at cardiology. Obviously it will help me provide better care in the long run since I hope to do volunteer work in poor countries. However just the satisfaction that I get when an echo confirms my findings is worth the extra money. Sometimes on crappy days it's enough of a lift to keep me going 🙂