5 Myths About Stethoscopes Exposed

If you are just starting on your studies in order to become a medical professional, then chances are you are just about to buy your first stethoscope. These are one of the most important and significant medical equipment that all aspiring medical professionals need. When you were just dreaming about becoming a doctor as a child the first thing you did was ask your parents to buy you toy stethoscopes so that you can go around pretending to be a doctor. Now as a medical professional, you are now contemplating whether to get a Littmann Lightweight II S.E. Stethoscope or a Littmann Cardiology III. These two specific units are some of the best makes to get. However, before you actually go and get a stethoscope. You better familiarize yourself first with some common stethoscope myths. This way, you will avoid using your new stethoscope in the wrong manner and end up destroying it.

• Stethocopes can hear the actual sound of your body organs – this is a very common misconception. However, if you put the instrument on someone’s chest in order to hear the heart beating, you are not necessarily listening to the sounds of the heart. Instead, you are listening to the sounds created by the pressure waves that are generated by the heart’s beating. Doctors look for any abnormalities in these pressure waves in order to determine the right diagnosis for a patient.

• Stethocopes can be used for eavesdropping – you can see in movies that some people use these medical devices to eavesdrop on the conversations of people on the other side. They use the stethoscope as an eavesdropping device because they believe that stethoscopes can amplify the sounds that traverse a wall. However, you really do not need a stethoscope for this type of use. In fact, you can just press your ears to the wall and listen to what the people on the other room are saying.

• Stethoscopes can open safes – you will be seeing this a lot in movies. Some guy trying to crack a safe will be using headphones in order to twist the tumblers. However, this is no longer the case. This is because safes now use the latest electronic technologies. Gone are the days of using only tumblers to restrict access.

• Stethoscopes are very fragile – this is totally wrong. In fact there are many cases when students buy their first unit and continue using the same one for a very long time. Real stethoscopes are built tough.

• Stethoscopes are more of a symbol rather than an instrument – some people think that they really do not need stethoscopes because any hidden virus that go undetected will eventually show up due to further tests. However, this is far from the truth.