Why are so many students trying to sell their equipment

[Treehun]

On my COMs Facebook group, there are so many second years trying to sell their medical equipment. I'm confused, is the stuff useless? Why do they make us buy it if it's not needed for more then 1 year.

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[kenjixshadow]

You mean like the tuning fork and pocket otoscope that you were convinced you would need with every patient?

Correct. However, I went ahead and pmed an upperclassmen and he/she said not to buy anything but the stethoscope. Meanwhile, my classmates are spending a thousand on the tools they will probably never use.

 

[kenjixshadow]

I'll second that. Buy nothing but a stethoscope.

And don't buy some fancy Cardiology II. Buy the cheapest one you can find. You will lose it.

Hell, don't even buy a stethoscope. Swipe one off a distracted nurse.

Which one do you recommend that will last all 4 yrs for a medical student? I won't lose it, promise.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

It is crappy, but some schools make you buy things. DMU makes you purchase all the stuff so you can practice at home. Hell, we had a professor in 2nd year that said you should be practicing with your ophthalmascope 20 minutes a week, every week. Yeah....that's not happening.

And when you get to rotations, you quickly realize the every room in every hospital and every clinic has everything you need. And it makes you super happy with your school for making you buy everything.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Our clinical labs show you how to use your equipment. As FrkyBgStok said, the rooms will probably have what you need.

That's why the 2nd years are selling their stuff off before leaving for rotations.

 

[hallowmann]

Which one do you recommend that will last all 4 yrs for a medical student? I won't lose it, promise.

Are you sure your school doesn't "give" you one? A lot of schools give them out at events like white coat, etc.

If they don't, I'd get a Littman (Classic II if you're on a budget, Cardiology III if you have the extra paper). I bought a cheap ($13) ADC one, and I couldn't hear anything through it. I got my hands on a Classic II SE for ~$50, but normal price is closer to $75.

General rule: don't buy anything unless you're sure you need it. My school required us to have all this equipment, gave us a WelchAllyn discount (only $500 for something you'll use 4 times!), and a club did orders for the rest of the equipment for ~$23 (hammer, penlight, forks, acuity card, etc.).

 

[kenjixshadow]

Are you sure your school doesn't "give" you one? A lot of schools give them out at events like white coat, etc.

If they don't, I'd get a Littman (Cardiology II if you're on a budget, III if you have the extra paper). I bought a cheap ($13) ADC one, and I couldn't hear anything through it. I got my hands on a Cardio II SE for ~$50, but normal price is closer to $75.

General rule: don't buy anything unless you're sure you need it. My school required us to have all this equipment, gave us a WelchAllyn discount (only $500 for something you'll use 4 times!), and a club did orders for the rest of the equipment for ~$23 (hammer, penlight, forks, acuity card, etc.).

It's positive. I confirmed it myself by called the school. Thanks for the tip. I won't buy anything else and just borrow the tools from someone.

 

[hallowmann]

It's positive. I confirmed it myself by called the school. Thanks for the tip. I won't buy anything else and just borrow the tools from someone.

Just realized it Classic II SE not Cardiology II. Sorry, too early, should sleep.

EDIT: I've also heard good things about the Lightweight (here), but I've never used it myself, so I can't say how it sounds.

 

[ortnakas]

Don't buy a stethoscope unless you're sure your school is not giving you one. Lots of schools do.

I fell into my school's you-need-the-best-stuff-here's-a-Welch-Allyn-discount trap, and am the proud owner of a super expensive opthalmoscope (and two semesters of H&P hasn't taught me how to spell that correctly). Many of my classmates have cheaper versions from Amazon and seem to be doing just fine.

 

[the argus]

Which one do you recommend that will last all 4 yrs for a medical student? I won't lose it, promise.

Look at the ADC Adscope 602, it's the ADC equivalent to the Littman Cardiology III. It's half the price and to my ears sounds just as good.
Amazon product

 

[Back 5]

Our school had a medical equipment check. We were forced to purchase everything.

 

[phenobb]

Buy a good stethoscope. Cardiology III minimum. If you have half a brain you won't lose it, because you'll be wondering why your white coat/neck feels funny now.

All the other equipment can come in handy as well. On some rotations I was required to bring my own otoscope etc.

As always, do what you think is best.

 

[SurgeDO]

I bought a nice stethoscope and some nice Welch Allyn scopes and don't regret it. I've had to use them on family members and friends. I think you should buy a nice stethoscope at least.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Ignore the advice above to 'borrow stethoscopes from nurses' and get a decent one. I had a cheapo for my first and I couldn't hear jack **** and wondered why I wasn't that great at finding murmurs until I used somebody's Cardiology III and...wow...I could actually hear things. I have never ever ever lost a stethoscope either and I'm one of the most disorganized people you'll ever meet, so it's not that hard to keep track of one.

The rest of the stuff is less essential. I had one of the cheapo amazon otoscope/opthalmoscope kits and it worked OK. I use the otoscope a few times a year on family/friends. It seems very few people in the real world actually bother with using opthalmoscopes, so I'd be a lot less concerned about that.

 

[AMEHigh]

I have a tendency to lose things and I've survived all 4 years of school with my stethoscope. It doesn't seem too hard to misplace as I always have it around my neck or in my white coat pocket. I never just set it down randomly somewhere. Sometimes residents or attendings won't have a sterhoscope on them so it's nice to always be prepare with one as a student. I also recommend the Litman.

 

[Mad Jack]

Which one do you recommend that will last all 4 yrs for a medical student? I won't lose it, promise.

ADC Adscope will be fine for a nooblet. ADC Cardiology if you want to be fancy.

 

[kenjixshadow]

ADC Adscope will be fine for a nooblet. ADC Cardiology if you want to be fancy.

ADC Cardiology is $90 on amazon while Classic II SE is $76. Not much different, would you recommend ADC over Littmann?

 

[Mad Jack]

ADC Cardiology is $90 on amazon while Classic II SE is $76. Not much different, would you recommend ADC over Littmann?

They're different levels of scope. The Classic II is a basic scope, the Cardiology is a cardiology scope. If you want a basic scope, go with the ADC Adscope, if you want a scope that gives you all the options of the Cardiology III for far less money (including having a pediatric and adult head on the same scope, basically making it two scopes in one) go for the ADC Cardiology.

I use Littmann's myself, but I've been very good about not losing my scopes over the years. Most people tend to lose their first scope or two until they get used to remembering to bring it everywhere and making sure to get it back whenever someone else borrows it. Anyway, if you've got good ears, the ADC works plenty fine- hell, even the disposables work fine for most things, I'd end up using those 75% of the time anyway. I've never heard any complaints about the quality of the ADCs though, and never noticed much of a difference in sound quality.

 

[TraumaBlonde]

Which one do you recommend that will last all 4 yrs for a medical student? I won't lose it, promise.

http://www.littmann.com/

I am/was a flight medic for years and they arnt expensive,
But they work as well as, if not better than anything I've ever used

 

[Jamers]

Correct. However, I went ahead and pmed an upperclassmen and he/she said not to buy anything but the stethoscope. Meanwhile, my classmates are spending a thousand on the tools they will probably never use.

There are some residents I worked that, through four years of EM residency, that only used the "free" sterile stethoscope (you know, the plastic yellow one that looks like it belongs in a Fisher Price set up).

 

[hallowmann]

I bought a nice stethoscope and some nice Welch Allyn scopes and don't regret it. I've had to use them on family members and friends. I think you should buy a nice stethoscope at least.

I agree with this. You use your stethoscope a ton. That said, almost everything I bought, I use relatively frequently at home/on family and when I've shadowed (except for maybe the ophthalmoscope).

I wanted to get good instruments from the beginning, and I'm happy with the investment, but honestly when it comes to the otoscope and ophthalmoscope, anything is fine. With the sphygmo, I got the kit with different size cuffs, and I've had to use all of them in 2 years on either family or patients (only if you're in a room that doesn't have one on the wall), so I'm glad I got one I'm comfortable with.

 

[preDoGuy24]

Welcome to medicine where everyone will try and convince you that anything less than the Cadillac of opthalmascopes is malpractice. I say only buy a stethescope (be reasonable you are not a cardiologist). I bought the cheapest of the cheap and have never used it once outside of 2nd year. It blows my mind how many students dropped a grand on all this medical equipment they will literally never use on rotations.

It shouldn't be a big surprise that 4th years are selling this stuff...that alone should tell you the value of having it.

 

[SLC]

My school made us buy a ton of equipment, multiple thousands of dollars worth when I piece each bit out online from medical equipment dealers. The great thing was that they charged us like $700 in student fees for the lot of it.

We got Litmann Cardiology III stethoscopes, Nice Welch Allyn BP cuffs (calibratable and all the cuff sizes included), Otoscope/Opthalmoscope kits with the rechargeable handles (same ones all the newer offices have), panoptic opthalmoscopes, tuning forks, reflex hammers, etc etc etc.

Yeah, I didn't use much of it other than the stethoscope at school, but I have kids and the otoscope has been a great asset there. Also, if I decide to enter private practice in a few years, I've already got a nice head start on equipment that I'll use regularly there.

So I don't begrudge the school too much for making us get the equipment, it's super nice stuff that I'm glad to have.

 

[JGimpel]

I've put together some of what I've stated before and corrected my progressively worsening spelling for clarity. And...more links!

You have a very high chance of loosing one or more pieces of your medical gear at one time or another in your training and you're just going through the motions for most of the first few years anyways, so save the fear of having to find/grade complicated murmurs and the equipment needed to hear them properly for the time when you'll actually use them. You will also be cleaning it with some sort of mildly abrasive chemical between patients and this will degrade any manufacturers' equipment over time. After finding out that you just examined a patient with TB/MRSA/Tiny insects/Acinetobacter, don't be ashamed to want to soak this in peroxide for a few hours or throw it away, either. Put a glove on it before using it on inpatients and you'll be much safer from the start.

Buy the higher-end ADC or MDF steths, such as their cardiology-oriented ones and you'll be more than fine and spend little more than the $100 you would have spent getting a low to mid grade Littman. Amazon has great reviews to guide you along in this case.

Great ADC that is appropriate from the first day of training until you loose it:
http://www.allheart.com/adc-stethoscope/p/adc601/

Same for this MDF:
http://www.allheart.com/mdf-stethoscope/p/mdf797dd/

If you absolutely have to buy an expensive high-end steth, get the one that records heart sounds so you can go home and study them and look like a star on rounds the next day when you've got the murmur/grading nailed. They have mixed reviews over whether they really make your life easier and/or if they're worth the money.

ADC: around $250
http://www.allheart.com/adc-advanced-electronic-stethoscope/p/adc657/

Thinklabs for around $250, $300 with the iPhone software
http://www.thinklabsdirect.com/id2

If you must have a Littman: around $350
http://www.allheart.com/3m-littmann-stethoscope/p/litt3100/

Low-tech, Baller-status steth that will get you brutally pimped on rounds:
Welch Allen Triple Head model 5079-321: around $300
http://www.allheart.com/product.aspx?p=ty507932xth

The Welch-Allyn optho is just a very expensive crutch that you'll hardly ever carry around with you on rounds and may have a $400 window in your car broken if you keep it there while parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. Use the school ones mounted in the exam rooms to learn what to look for, an online optho slide set to know what you should see, then use the basic one as soon as you're proficient. Tell your attending that you're not good at auscultation or ophthalmic exams without your Ferrari-level equipment that you may or may not have on you or in your car and see how well that goes over.

Buy everything but your stethoscope from ebay, as they have plenty of generic equipment that works, but will take around 2 weeks to get to you from China. My total cost for equipment was around $150 for my entire time in med school and nobody did or should complain about the brand you have and yes, you will likely never use the majority of it again after your first 2 years of medical school. Embrace anything that has "Nurses, Mom, Home" in the title because that means just as good for what you're doing for half the price.

Get an LED light for anything that requires a light:
Good oto kit for under $50:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-for-201...108?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51a66b9bf4

You'll mainly need the 128 and 512 Hz tuning forks, if at all: $Under 10 for both
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Tuning-...276?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2ace2904

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Tuning-...427?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25a29014b3

Pen light:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Nurse-M...956?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e85dd2e74

Keep a clip full of much of this stuff in your white coat to be super helpful and faster than calling a nurse over to cut a bandage off.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nurse-Medic...333?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e84cad1a5

Great to start practicing suture on, the walmart generic is just as good and much cheaper over time.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mr.-Clean-Magic-Eraser-Variety-Tub-6ct/17201599

Get expired suture from ebay too. There's tons of it for cheap there.

Peace.