Stethoscope?

[strugglebus2341]

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I matriculate to medical school next month and a retired nurse I know has offered to give me her Littmann Master Cardiology stethoscope. I (obviously) don't know anything about stethoscopes so I'm wondering if this one will be sufficient for medical school? My school has an event at orientation where I could buy one at discount, so if not, what stethoscopes would people recommend?

 

[HomeSkool]

That's a great "starting school" gift! That and the Cardiology III are two of the most popular models. I've had the same Cardiology III for thirteen years now.

 

[Mad Jack]

It's more stethoscope than you'll ever need, and a fantastic gift to have. I got by with a Cardiology III for all four years, and plan to keep it for the rest of my career. Basically this will be the last stethoscope you'll ever need if you don't lose it.

 

[alishamur]

littmann are actually good ones, you should take it
what specialization will you have?

 

[Crayola227]

get a cheap nametag for it - mine brought it back to me many, many times

 

[676188]

And I’m sure this goes without saying, but get new earpieces.

 

[Oso]

Hmm.

Never heard of it.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

That's a fine stethescope even for an attending. Besides, we lean on echocardiography when we hear anything remotely worrisome from the heart, so don't worry about those 1/6 systolic murmurs.

 

[deleted407021]

Super high quality stethoscope and it has the capability to adjust what frequencies you hear based on pressure but your clinical professors might want you to have one with a bell for practicing auscultation. In that case just snag a cheap one with a bell and use the nice one the rest of the time.

 

[Crayola227]

this bit about earpieces is silly, they're easily cleaned

I've never heard of someone catching a disease from shared steth earpieces

 

[trobinsonmd]

this is a pretty high end stethoscope, but sometimes, instructors want students to have the cheaper stethoscopes that have a bell... at our med school I had a few classmates who had parents who were physicians and their parents gifted them similar stethoscopes, but they were often not allowed to use them

 

[Crayola227]

if it's a gift you hardly lose anything accepting it, and I would imagine you can likely use it in most settings, I've never really seen an instructor on wards looking that closely... just get the job done

on OSCEs I could see it as way more of an issue, since sometimes they do quite literally judge you on stage-telegraphing that you are switching to bell

 

[676188]

this bit about earpieces is silly, they're easily cleaned

I've never heard of someone catching a disease from shared steth earpieces

I know, it would give me the willies though.

 

[Crayola227]

I know, it would give me the willies though.

I highly suggest if an upper in your training doesn't have one and wants to borrow yours, that you let them anyway

 

[676188]

I highly suggest if an upper in your training doesn't have one and wants to borrow yours, that you let them anyway

Noted.

 

[sunshinefl]

Our school is very particular about when to use the bell vs diaphragm during clinical skills exams. You have to have a stethoscope with a separate bell and diaphragm or you would lose the points every single time you use your stethoscope. You could always accept the gift and then buy an extra one though.

 

[holdthemayo]

Our school is very particular about when to use the bell vs diaphragm during clinical skills exams. You have to have a stethoscope with a separate bell and diaphragm or you would lose the points every single time you use your stethoscope. You could always accept the gift and then buy an extra one though.

My school is the same way. I would accept the gift to use on the wards/in your career and buy something cheap for a backup when you are being graded on bell/diaphragm usage.