I'm trying to decide if I should buy a new stethoscope.
I bought my Littmann cardio stethoscope during my second year of medical student, over 10 years ago, and I still use it to this day. I replaced the earpieces and the bell cover has fallen off, but it still works. It just seems sort of… grimy. Plus it's way heavy to carry around my neck considering how seldomly I actually need to use it (a few times a day, maybe).
Then again, it seems like a waste to buy a whole new stethoscope considering I don't use it very much.
Also, unrelated, The Psyching is free as a short story on smashwords. You can download it in any format.
If it's grimy, then yes please.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure a good sterilization would probably fix anything though…
DeleteI was given a Littmann student model when I started medical school, and it has worked perfectly well for me. I even did a side-by-side comparison with a Cardiologist with a fancy stethoscope (because I couldn't hear a murmur), and my student model was better than his pricier model. So, if you do decide to replace it, a relatively inexpensive student model is probably adequate (and lighter than some of the fancy ones).
ReplyDeleteHow much was yours?
DeleteYeah I agree, the student one should be good enough and it's cheaper
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ReplyDeleteThanks! Would appreciate a review if you could…
DeleteWhat's a stethoscope?
ReplyDeleteSeriously. As a ObGyn I think maybe it's that thing I use to check patient's reflexes when they're on Magnesium?
DeleteLittman used to clean and recondition them if you sent them back to the factory. Don't know if they still do that.
ReplyDeleteIf you carry it around your neck, that's why it's grimy. Put it in your pocket.
ReplyDelete(Incidentally that's also much safer, because it doesn't leave a convenient garrotte that psychotic patients can use to strangle you. But maybe that's less a problem in your practice area than in mine.)
I don't wear a white coat so no pockets...
DeleteSend it in to Littmann and have it refurbished. My stethoscope is the same age as yours, and was having similar issues. Sent it in last year, and it works better and everything cracked, dirty and broken was fixed. It's not expensive, and definitely a better deal than buying a new one.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.littmann.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Littmann/stethoscope/customer-service/
I replaced every part of mine that wasn't metal! I had to replace the tubing when wind sounds were interfering with diagnosis! And when I replaced the diaphragm, I had trouble because everything was so much clearer! Its funny how we get used to the quirks of our tools!
ReplyDeleteSo did you end up buying a new one or sending it to Littmann?
ReplyDelete