The Importance of Taking Care of Your Stethoscope as a Medical Practitioner

In the medical world, there is a lot riding on your shoulders, especially when you’re dealing with patients non-stop all day. If you have a busy office or you’re a nurse that is helping with a busy ER, any moment where you don’t have to worry about work can be a blessing.

The downside here is that you may end up with a stethoscope that performs terribly in the future. Stethoscopes can be neglected, yet they are needed every day in the field, and that’s something that is not going to change any time in the future. As long as medicine is being practiced, people are going to rely on these tools to help with basic diagnostics and complex decisions as a whole.

There’s a lot of things that can go awry with the tools of the trade, and often times the stethoscopes utilized by doctors and nurses aren’t thought about in the same light as other tools. The most common issue that you’ll find with these is that of a dulling of the components. Natural wear and tear is going to happen, and that will cause some of the parts to become dull. That will lead to a lack of sound quality, or even a complete breakdown of the ear pieces. When this happens, buying another one on the fly may not be as simple as going to the store on your break. In order to avoid break down it becomes imperative to take care of the individual pieces often.

Another thing to remember about this tool is to ensure that the ear pieces are cleaned often. More so than anything else, the ear pieces can end up malfunctioning or getting clogged through natural use. When they are clogged or they break down, the amplification of sound will not come through properly. This issue could be very frustrating, especially when you have one of the higher end solutions that costs a great deal.

One of the best ways to avoid this is to ensure that the ear pieces are changed out and cleaned. Some stethoscopes won’t allow you to interchange things, and that’s fine, but you’ll want to check on them every so often to ensure that you have the right tools on the right level.

Above all else, the main reason why it’s important to take care of your stethoscopes, no matter what discipline of medicine you’re working in comes down to caring for patients. You need to be able to hear the right things in regards to their hearts, lungs, and circulation overall. Without clean, and cared for tools, you could miss something that is not conducive to anyone’s health. Saving lives sometimes relies on split second decisions and if you hear something awry, you have to act fast. Without taking care of your stethoscope this becomes an impossible task, which is something that is hard to overcome. Avoiding any issues is a matter of simply taking care of the tools you use on a regular basis and ensure that others do so as well. When things aren’t working properly, even after care, replace them immediately.