Comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator

Mansoor Mehmood,1 Hazem L Abu Grara,1 Joshua S Stewart,2 Faisal A Khasawneh3 1Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 2Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Northwest Texas Hospital, 3Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech Universi...

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Autores principales:	Mehmood M, Abu Grara HL, Stewart JS, Khasawneh FA
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Dove Medical Press 2014
Materias:	Medical technology R855-855.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/c691cd23c67141dd96051eb9b84787e8
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:c691cd23c67141dd96051eb9b84787e82021-12-02T12:26:25ZComparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator1179-1470https://doaj.org/article/c691cd23c67141dd96051eb9b84787e82014-08-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.dovepress.com/comparing-the-auscultatory-accuracy-of-health-care-professionals-using-peer-reviewed-article-MDERhttps://doaj.org/toc/1179-1470 Mansoor Mehmood,1 Hazem L Abu Grara,1 Joshua S Stewart,2 Faisal A Khasawneh3 1Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 2Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Northwest Texas Hospital, 3Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Amarillo, TX, USA Background: It is considered standard practice to use disposable or patient-dedicated stethoscopes to prevent cross-contamination between patients in contact precautions and others in their vicinity. The literature offers very little information regarding the quality of currently used stethoscopes. This study assessed the fidelity with which acoustics were perceived by a broad range of health care professionals using three brands of stethoscopes. Methods: This prospective study used a simulation center and volunteer health care professionals to test the sound quality offered by three brands of commonly used stethoscopes. The volunteer's proficiency in identifying five basic ausculatory sounds (wheezing, stridor, crackles, holosystolic murmur, and hyperdynamic bowel sounds) was tested, as well. Results: A total of 84 health care professionals (ten attending physicians, 35 resident physicians, and 39 intensive care unit [ICU] nurses) participated in the study. The higher-end stethoscope was more reliable than lower-end stethoscopes in facilitating the diagnosis of the auscultatory sounds, especially stridor and crackles. Our volunteers detected all tested sounds correctly in about 69% of cases. As expected, attending physicians performed the best, followed by resident physicians and subsequently ICU nurses. Neither years of experience nor background noise seemed to affect performance. Postgraduate training continues to offer very little to improve our trainees' auscultation skills. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that using low-end stethoscopes to care for patients in contact precautions could compromise identifying important auscultatory findings. Furthermore, there continues to be an opportunity to improve our physicians and ICU nurses' auscultation skills. Keywords: auscultation skills, acoustics, training programsMehmood MAbu Grara HLStewart JSKhasawneh FADove Medical PressarticleMedical technologyR855-855.5ENMedical Devices: Evidence and Research, Vol 2014, Iss default, Pp 273-281 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medical technology R855-855.5
spellingShingle	Medical technology R855-855.5 Mehmood M Abu Grara HL Stewart JS Khasawneh FA Comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator
description	Mansoor Mehmood,1 Hazem L Abu Grara,1 Joshua S Stewart,2 Faisal A Khasawneh3 1Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 2Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Northwest Texas Hospital, 3Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Amarillo, TX, USA Background: It is considered standard practice to use disposable or patient-dedicated stethoscopes to prevent cross-contamination between patients in contact precautions and others in their vicinity. The literature offers very little information regarding the quality of currently used stethoscopes. This study assessed the fidelity with which acoustics were perceived by a broad range of health care professionals using three brands of stethoscopes. Methods: This prospective study used a simulation center and volunteer health care professionals to test the sound quality offered by three brands of commonly used stethoscopes. The volunteer's proficiency in identifying five basic ausculatory sounds (wheezing, stridor, crackles, holosystolic murmur, and hyperdynamic bowel sounds) was tested, as well. Results: A total of 84 health care professionals (ten attending physicians, 35 resident physicians, and 39 intensive care unit [ICU] nurses) participated in the study. The higher-end stethoscope was more reliable than lower-end stethoscopes in facilitating the diagnosis of the auscultatory sounds, especially stridor and crackles. Our volunteers detected all tested sounds correctly in about 69% of cases. As expected, attending physicians performed the best, followed by resident physicians and subsequently ICU nurses. Neither years of experience nor background noise seemed to affect performance. Postgraduate training continues to offer very little to improve our trainees' auscultation skills. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that using low-end stethoscopes to care for patients in contact precautions could compromise identifying important auscultatory findings. Furthermore, there continues to be an opportunity to improve our physicians and ICU nurses' auscultation skills. Keywords: auscultation skills, acoustics, training programs
format	article
author	Mehmood M Abu Grara HL Stewart JS Khasawneh FA
author_facet	Mehmood M Abu Grara HL Stewart JS Khasawneh FA
author_sort	Mehmood M
title	Comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator
title_short	Comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator
title_full	Comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator
title_fullStr	Comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator
title_full_unstemmed	Comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator
title_sort	comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator
publisher	Dove Medical Press
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/c691cd23c67141dd96051eb9b84787e8
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Comparing the auscultatory accuracy of health care professionals using three different brands of stethoscopes on a simulator

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