The Dim Stethoscope

You see them in isolation rooms. They are usually referred to as Fake Stethoscopes. They are made by Fake Incorporated.

Sometimes they are referred to as "Dim Stethoscopes." It's because you can't hear lung sounds for crap. So, you find yourself just writing or clicking, "Diminished."

And sometimes you don't even bother using it. I mean, it's been in the same room as a MRSA patient for a week now. And the lung sounds have been the same since the patient arrived.

And so you just scan the patient. You start the treatment. And you just (if no one is looking, that is) go right to charting. And, without even touching the Dim stethoscope, you click: "Diminished."

There is one exception. If the patient is wet. That's the exception. Because, if that's why the doctor ordered it, it's mainly because of that audible cardiac wheeze. You don't need a stethoscope to here it. So, you can then click on "Wheeze"

So, that's your prototypical dim stethoscope. The patient is dim whether you use it or not, so you might as well just not. But, usually you do. But, still, it's dim and dimmer. Thoughts?

Do you wash your stethoscope routinely?

In his recent "In My Opinion" column in Advance for RTs, Jimmy Thacker discusses the importance of washing your stethoscope after each use.  He said it's been known for years that germs can be spread by hands, and we are encouraged, if not forced, to wash them frequently and often.  However, when it comes to our stethoscopes, there is no set standard of practice as to how frequently it should be washed, or even that it should at all.

In referring to the importance of washing your stethoscope after each use, he makes the following study reference:

Studies by Didier Pittet, director of the Infection Control Program at University of Geneva Hospital, showed that after examining 83 patients, the only "tool" used by a physician that was more contaminated than the stethoscope was the doctor's fingertips. Stethoscope diaphrams were robust with bacteria, including MRSA, in 71 of the after examination samplings.

This kind of proves what we already knew: stethoscopes, like hands, can be breeding grounds for germs.  Washing down our stethoscopes with germicide cloths is something we should do routinely, not just to prevent ourselves from catching diseases, but to prevent nosocomial infections.

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