BACKGROUND AND AIM Two hundred years ago Laennec, a young French physician discovered the stethoscope, in order to improve the lung auscultation. The stethoscope became the emblematic appendix of the physicians. Nurses use it also to monitor patients and medical students are proud to use it. We critically review the significance of the stethoscope 200 years after its discovery. METHODS Pertin...

Stethoscope diaphragms are frequently colonized by bacteria. This cross-sectional study described the frequency and factors associated with reporting ever cleaning stethoscopes among 408 medical students and doctors at a medical college and 2 teaching hospitals in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A minority of the respondents (37.7%) reported having ever cleaned their stethoscope. Following normal clinica...

BACKGROUND Purpose of this study was to modify the stethoscope which can auscultate the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) sounds more precisely than conventional stethoscope, and fabrication of stethoscope compatible software which analyses the auscultated sound and gives documentary evidence of that analysis in the form of graph. MATERIALS & METHODS The conventional stethoscope was modified by a...

This study aimed to investigate the effect of stethoscope position and contact pressure on auscultatory blood pressure (BP) measurement. Thirty healthy subjects were studied. Two identical stethoscopes (one under the cuff, the other outside the cuff) were used to simultaneously and digitally record 2 channels of Korotkoff sounds during linear cuff pressure deflation. For each subject, 3 measure...

Methods Following a standardized physical exam using sterile gloves and a sterile stethoscope, bacterial contamination of the following regions were assessed using contact plates: stethoscope diaphragm, stethoscope tube, fingertips, thenar region, hypothenar region and back of physician’s dominant hand. Total aerobic colony count (ACC) were determined on digital photographs using a counting tool.

Objective: To compare mean endotracheal tube cuff pressures generated using two inflation methods;just-Seal versus Stethoscope-Guided in patients undergoing elective surgery under general Anaesthesia.
 Study Design: Quasi-experimental study.
 Place and Duration of Study: Anesthesia Department, Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan to Jul 2021.
 Methodology: A ...

The stethoscope is currently at the crossroads. For two centuries now, the stethoscope has been a central part of examining the thorax. Nevertheless, this omnipresent tool of the medical profession (‘conversation piece’) is at the heart of the debate over how diagnostic medicine should be practised. At the moment, there are many divergent views on the value of using the stethoscope as a primary...

During the COVID-19 outbreak, auscultation of heart and lung sounds has played an important role in comprehensive diagnosis real-time monitoring confirmed cases. With clinicians wearing protective clothing isolation wards, a potato chip tube stethoscope, which is secure flexible substitute for conventional been used by Chinese medical workers first-line treatment COVID-19. In this study, optima...