Stethoscopes anyone?

[TripleDegree]

Someone gave me a Littman Master Classic II as a gift. How good is this model? Will it serve my needs for med school?

I've heard others tell me that the Littman Cardio is more appropriate for med school.

MS1-4s please reply.

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[YouDontKnowJack]

more than sufficient.

when you get into residency, then you might wanna get cardio

 

[Mumpu]

Get a good stethoscope now. You cannot become a physician with great physical exam skills if you go through med school with a $20 stethoscope. There's no such thing as "good enough for a med student" unless you want to stay at that level for the rest of your career.

I'm not familiar with the Littmans (aside from the fact that they are very popular). My personal preference is a Phillips (formerly Hewlett-Packard) Rappaport-Sprague with a Craddock-Pelham bell. It'll run you about $200 but it's about as professional as they get.

 

[idq1i]

more than sufficient

I respectfully disagree. I'd go for Cardiology III. The acoustics of IIse are not that great.

Stay away from master cardio series (for now) - they don't have bells.

 

[TripleDegree]

Get a good stethoscope now. You cannot become a physician with great physical exam skills if you go through med school with a $20 stethoscope. There's no such thing as "good enough for a med student" unless you want to stay at that level for the rest of your career.

I'm not familiar with the Littmans (aside from the fact that they are very popular). My personal preference is a Phillips (formerly Hewlett-Packard) Rappaport-Sprague with a Craddock-Pelham bell. It'll run you about $200 but it's about as professional as they get.

Ummmm - this was a $130 stethoscope....

 

[kota315]

I prefer the cardio three because of the double sided bell, to be honest, You will have no problem with the littman cardio II, it too is a good scope.....I have been an ER Nurse for the last three years and have found my stethoscope gives superior sound transference and clarity in all sizes of patients.

 

[bubblebutt]

do you really need the bell if the the stethoscope has the "tunable diaphragm" that Littman seems to be promoting?

 

[DrMom]

I respectfully disagree. I'd go for Cardiology III. The acoustics of IIse are not that great.

Stay away from master cardio series (for now) - they don't have bells.

They have a tunable diaphragm that lets you hear different frequencies based on how much pressure you use. Light pressure is the bell mode.

I used to have a Cardio III, but I could hear much better with the Master Cardio. Most everyone I know is very happy with Cardio III, though, and I still use mine occasionally as a backup.

If someone is paying $130 for a Master Classic II, they're getting ripped off. They aren't super cheap, but they're easy to find for well under $100.

 

[DrThom]

I was thinking about getting a phillips rappatort Sprague (??) off of allhearts.com ...

I've heard good things but I also heard that phillips is discontinuing the model as well...

What do you guys think?

 

[lightnk102]

Someone gave me a Littman Master Classic II as a gift. How good is this model? Will it serve my needs for med school?

I've heard others tell me that the Littman Cardio is more appropriate for med school.

MS1-4s please reply.

Haha. I received a Littman Classic II today as a gift as well (but not the Master Classic). On allhearts.com it seems to be ~$80. Should I upgrade?

 

[kota315]

do you really need the bell if the the stethoscope has the "tunable diaphragm" that Littman seems to be promoting?

No, no you don't really need the bell, I just prefer it, in my line of work your patients tend to be falling all over the place and you lose your ability to control the amount of pressure you are applying in various cases....I also prefer the smaller bell for pediatric patients.

M-

 

[MiniPri]

Hey all...
My school requires us to buy a stetho before september. We need to have a stetho with "two listening surfaces - one bell and one diaphragm". What does that mean?

Also, we will be having a sales rep at our school in august. These are the stetho's that are listed in our list:
Stethoscopes 3M/Littman
Stethoscopes Welch Allyn

Which one is better? I don't know anything about stetho's. Also, would it be cheaper to make this purchase online? We will get a student discount, but I don't know how much.

Thanks.

 

[idq1i]

They have a tunable diaphragm that lets you hear different frequencies based on how much pressure you use. Light pressure is the bell mode.

They do, but I prefer to have a bell.

Another reason not to get it: It's too big for Peds

 

[G0S2]

I received a DRG traditional scope as a gift and I like it. My roommate, who just graduated from med school tried it out and said it was good. It has an antimicrobial diaphram that can be replaced and the tubing is made by Bose.

http://www.allheart.com/drgpt3.html

 

[ZappBrannigan]

I received a DRG traditional scope as a gift and I like it. My roommate, who just graduated from med school tried it out and said it was good. It has an antimicrobial diaphram that can be replaced and the tubing is made by Bose.

http://www.allheart.com/drgpt3.html

I was curious about DRG, just to be different from the littmans. Can they be used in peds?

 

[G0S2]

I was curious about DRG, just to be different from the littmans. Can they be used in peds?

The traditional has both peds and adult diaphrams. There are other great scopes out there besides Littman and they are most likely cheaper since they need to compete.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I use DRG Staff Cardio and the sound is as good (maybe even a little better) than the Littman Cardio III. However, it is bulkier and the neoprene tubing is thicker. Stuffing a Littman in your pocket is probably easier than this DRG.

The DRG does have the comfiest earpieces around, in my opinion.

I got this as a gift but I'd recommend anyone buying a scope to try it and compare it with others first. For instance I have trouble hearing things with the welch allyn scopes but some people claim to hear better with them than with the Littmans.

 

[primadonna22274]

I looooooovvvvveeeeee my Master Cardiology. I don't have to fuss with the bell/diaphragm thing and it's held up beautifully for the 7+ years I've had it. I hear great with adults and kiddos alike.
Lisa PA-C

I use DRG Staff Cardio and the sound is as good (maybe even a little better) than the Littman Cardio III. However, it is bulkier and the neoprene tubing is thicker. Stuffing a Littman in your pocket is probably easier than this DRG.

The DRG does have the comfiest earpieces around, in my opinion.

I got this as a gift but I'd recommend anyone buying a scope to try it and compare it with others first. For instance I have trouble hearing things with the welch allyn scopes but some people claim to hear better with them than with the Littmans.

 

[Turtle48]

Does anyone have the digital Littman stethoscope that sells for $400+? In practice, how useful is it over the traditional stethoscopes?

 

[Mumpu]

DrThom Rappaport-Sprague is fantastic. I believe Hewlett-Packard is making them now.

We got Welch-Allyn Harvey DLXs from school. Total a$$, many I-II/VI murmurs that I can easily hear with my R-S cannot be heard at all and the bell is worthless.

As far as the "dual function membrane" on Littmans, be aware that many attendings do not consider it to be a real bell and will give you flak.

Digitals are a waste of money. Make an effort and learn auscultation instead.

 

[medfish]

For the Littman Cardio III, does it make a difference if it's the "long" version vs "short"?

I recently purchased one from a fellow classmate, and it's the short type.

Thanks

 

[raidermedic]

We got Welch-Allyn Harvey DLXs from school. Total a$$, many I-II/VI murmurs that I can easily hear with my R-S cannot be heard at all and the bell is worthless.

I'll vouch for that. I borrowed my friends Littman once and it was vastly superior. I just ordered a Littman and will keep my WA as a backup.

For the Littman Cardio III, does it make a difference if it's the "long" version vs "short"?

I always go for the long so I don't have to be right up in the patients face when ascultating.

 

[DrMom]

They do, but I prefer to have a bell.

Another reason not to get it: It's too big for Peds

I use it on kids all the time. They have a sub-model that isn't supposed to be for kids, but the regular Master Cardiology is fine. I'm sure, however, that I'd get a peds stethoscope if I were going into peds.

 

[Mumpu]

From my experience, peds stethoscopes with small heads suck. Your sound-gathering area is tiny and you can't hear jack. I have had no problem auscultating and localizing sounds on newborns with my giant R-S.

 

[Smurfette]

Your best bet is to try out the different models before purchasing. If there are medical equipment salesmen at your school who come in to peddle their wares (I know my school did this first year), they absolutely will let you try and "play" with the models so you get a better sense of difference in sound and so forth. When it comes to stethoscopes, though some are clearly better than others, there is also a fair amount of personal preference involved.

 

[Cholinergic]

And for someone who is slightly hard of hearing, which model would you recommend? (damn earphones!)

 

[JCserver3]

And for someone who is slightly hard of hearing, which model would you recommend? (damn earphones!)

Try the electronic types, they let you record and replay from what I hear. I have never used one but one of my classmates does. Maybe some let you adjust volume.

 

[JCserver3]

I use a Littmann Lightweight and it's been good for the first 2 years of med school. I'll find out its limitations next I year I think. Anyway, to answer the original post - in my opinion, keep the one you've got and if it's not good enough, you can get a better one later. Any steth should be fine for the first 2 years.

What do people think of this thought: if you train on a less expensive steth, your skills will be better (your ear will be more tuned).

 

[Mumpu]

I think that's wrong. Cheap stethoscopes have poor acoustics. Thus, they actually significantly impair your ability to learn auscultation because you can't learn what you can't hear. It's not that the sounds are quieter with cheap stethoscopes. It's that they simply cannot pick up those sounds at all. I used to get very confused when I first began using my R-S because I was hearing all sorts of background noises I'd never heard before like the S1 split and the flow murmurs (Still's-type murmur in adults, pulmonic flow, etc.) The tiny bells or pseudo-bells on some stethoscopes are physically unable to pick up a low-pitched sound like an S4 or the diastolic rumble of MS. And so on...

 

[ZappBrannigan]

As for trying out stethoscopes before buying them advice - I have no idea what makes a good stethoscope. What should I look for when deciding what stethoscope to get when I really don't know yet what an S-1 split sounds like?

 

[12R34Y]

Let me dispel a few myths about stethoscopes (at least at my school).....

Almost everyone has a LIttman Master Cardiology or LIttman cardiology III.

the most popular being the MASTER CARDIOLOGY.

I listened to newborn chests/hearts with ease and no difficulty using my Master.

Having completed my 3rd year of school I can honestly say no resident/attending i've ever run into cares at ALL about what stethoscope you have.

You absolutely do NOT need a bell if you have a MASTER cardiology.

Having said that...........both are great and either will serve you well.

later

 

[njbmd]

As for trying out stethoscopes before buying them advice - I have no idea what makes a good stethoscope. What should I look for when deciding what stethoscope to get when I really don't know yet what an S-1 split sounds like?

Hi there,
You can greatly improve the acoustics of any stethoscope by cutting the tubing. Tubing longer than 14 inches is not necessary. The S-R are fine for any medical student. For the most part, the longer tubing is so that the scope can be placed around the neck (Totally forbidden on my surgical service). A Littman Cardio II is fine; cut the tubing and it is even better. Most students and residents can't pick out a murmur if it hit them in the face anyway. The most important thing is to get something that can be easily and completely cleaned.

If you use a little Armor All on your tubing, it stays pliable and soft for years.

njbmd