What's the best Stethoscope to start with?

[theRighteousDoc]

Hello,
I'm turning to my third year, Medicine, Here I come 🙄

I'm wondering what's the best stethoscope to start with, btw my hearing isn't perfectly well. I read and found that Littmann is the best, and specifically, one of these three:-

either:

Littmann Cardiology III

Or:

Littmann Master Cardiology - it's cool but not practical as the former.

Or:

Littmann Master Classic II


Is the Cardiology's better or the Classic?
Is there any better types than these ones??
Kindly advise 🙂

Greetings.. 🙂

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[SirGecko]

Try some of these threads out.

I haven't read all those but hopefully one has an answer for you. There are others if you search for "stethoscope" in this forum. 🙂

Also does your school not do any physical exam class before you start third year? It seems like most of the people posting "what stethoscope should I get?" threads are first years.

 

[GladifImakeit]

I started with the Cardio III as a first year. I had trouble hearing some sounds so kept looking for a better option. I bought the master cardiology for my third year and already discovered two new murmurs during the first block. I can hear everything really well and am quite pleased overall. I will say that I once disagreed with a PA about systolic BP. I was getting 165 and she was getting 130, so maybe mine was picking up more sound?

 

[mmmcdowe]

I started with the Cardio III as a first year. I had trouble hearing some sounds so kept looking for a better option. I bought the master cardiology for my third year and already discovered two new murmurs during the first block. I can hear everything really well and am quite pleased overall. I will say that I once disagreed with a PA about systolic BP. I was getting 165 and she was getting 130, so maybe mine was picking up more sound?

Strangely I was having this same problem the other day. I was getting a higher systolic and diastolic, which I attribute not only to the high quality of sound in terms of volume but to the clarity that it transmits it (or the lack of which is why I feel that I was able to hear the diastolic sound stop rather than waffling around about it for another 20mm).

 

[greg1184]

I use a cheaper Littmann Master Classic my first 2 years of school, and I have no trouble hearing what I need to hear.

 

[phospho]

i got a littmann 3 from amazon when it was on sale... if it wasn't on sale, I think I would have still gotten in... not too cheap, not too expensive, gives you everything you need, and 90% of your class has the same thing... it'll last you all 4 years and even into residency...etc... i'd be more worried about the more expensive stuff like the ENT crap they make you buy (depending on your school)...

 

[theVster]

i got a littmann 3 from amazon when it was on sale... if it wasn't on sale, I think I would have still gotten in... not too cheap, not too expensive, gives you everything you need, and 90% of your class has the same thing... it'll last you all 4 years and even into residency...etc... i'd be more worried about the more expensive stuff like the ENT crap they make you buy (depending on your school)...

Agreed, unless you absolutely want to become an ophthalmologist the full scale Welch Allyn Panoptic is not worth the 800 bucks. You will get by just fine with a cheap oto/ophthalmoscope.

 

[MossPoh]

I started with the Cardio III as a first year. I had trouble hearing some sounds so kept looking for a better option. I bought the master cardiology for my third year and already discovered two new murmurs during the first block. I can hear everything really well and am quite pleased overall. I will say that I once disagreed with a PA about systolic BP. I was getting 165 and she was getting 130, so maybe mine was picking up more sound?

That is actually pretty common. I've heard of that happening quite a bit.

 

[coralfangs]

I've been switching between a 70s vintage grey steth (gift from mom, she used it when she was back in cardio fellowship) and a new red peds one given by an oncologist. I switch between them to match my outfit better.

So, the story is: most steth (even the basic ones) are adequate for our purposes or even advanced training. Do not listen to the salesmen.....

 

[Mattchiavelli]

honestly the earpieces make more of a difference, there was an attendign that told me everyone should switch out their soft rubber earpieces for something harder and it does make a bit of difference.

Also, your surroundings will play into hearing heart soudns more than you realize... try picking up subtle murmurs in a level 1 trauma center ER on a patient in a hallway with 5 other patients and nurses, family, etc.

 

[jgil449]

hi all,
I bought Littmann Classic II SE from bestbuyMD.com and it is very good , recommended by my professor. It is cheap and very good sound transmision.

check following link to read detail features;

http://www.bestbuymd.com/

GL

james

 

[lstone13]

Are the Welch Allyn stethoscopes of good repute? Miami freshmen get some sort of discount on them, but I don't know much about them otherwise.

 

[DitchDoc73]

Are the Welch Allyn stethoscopes of good repute? Miami freshmen get some sort of discount on them, but I don't know much about them otherwise.

I have used 2 Littman stethoscopes over the last 12 years. Littman is a good stethoscope that will do very well for medical school. That being said, my next stethoscope will be the Welch Allyn Harvey Elite. I was amazed by the sound difference and the amount of ambient noise that it reduces compared to my Littman Classic 2 SE. Just my personal opinion!

 

[MossPoh]

Are the Welch Allyn stethoscopes of good repute? Miami freshmen get some sort of discount on them, but I don't know much about them otherwise.

Yes, welch-allyn stethoscopes have a solid rep. The Harvey Elite is excellent and comes highly recommended by BlueDog and a few others on this site I believe. It is a fixed diaphragm which is preferable for sound quality. The DLX is ok. Most of my classmates have it and the sound quality with the corrugated diaphragm is good, but the bell side has no rubber ring which I found interesting. It also looks like a mace and may be just as heavy.

If I had to choose, I'd probably go with the elite.

I have a cardio III and it is ok. The master cardiology seemed MUCH louder to me. I won't say clearer because I didn't compare between the two, but the sounds did seem to come across with very little effort. That being said, I'd stick with a traditional bell/diaphragm combo at first till you learn to distinguish sounds better.

 

[Hurricane95]

+1 for the welch allyn harvey elite. Awesome stethoscope. Some people say that it loses sound compared to the littman, but this is not true. It simply has a much greater ability to filter out background noise. Listening through the littman to me is like listening to fine classical music through cheap speakers with very high, distorted gain: EVERYTHING is uniformly louder...all frequencies, with poor attenuation. Louder is not better. The welch allyn has very good sound distinction. I've picked up subtle murmurs that attendings could not pick up with their littman scopes.

 

[Mast Cell]

i just got a Littmann Classic II as a gift. that's what professors at my school are suggesting. no need to go all hi-tech in med school, i don't think...

 

[beyondbethany]

i just got a Littmann Classic II as a gift. that's what professors at my school are suggesting. no need to go all hi-tech in med school, i don't think...

Our alumni association gives each student a Classic II (~$70 online) when they start school, which the vast majority of students keep and use throughout their school years. We too were told to wait to buy a high end stethoscope, as the more basic models are more than adequate for students. IMHO...I would stick with a more basic, cheaper model to start with and upgrade in the future, you may go into Radiology and find that your Cardio III collects dust in your desk drawer.

 

[deuist]

Try some of these threads out.

You could also try a funnier read about stethoscopes.

 

[eatsleeprepeat]

You could also try a funnier read about stethoscopes.

"What now bitches?

lol.