New Stethoscope

I probably shouldn't be typing so much since I had my finger operated on the other day, but I seriously have to tell you about my new stethoscope.

Thanks to a VERY good friend of mine, I was able to purchase a new Eko Core Digital Stethoscope. I tried it out the other day, and the magnification of the sound is unbelievable. I have a really hard time hearing breath sounds and heart sounds, and this could pick up my breath sounds through a thick sweater. Not only that, but when I used it at work, I had a nice little shock. I was trying to listen to a patient's heartbeat, but another sound kept intruding. I knew it wasn't a murmur or breath sounds or even bowel sounds. It was much too regular for any of those. It hit me that I was listening to her baby. I could hear fetal heart tones through the mom's chest. THAT IS UNREAL! Why can we not use this technology instead of cumbersome dopplers on belts that constantly need adjusting?

Also cool about it is that it connects via bluetooth to a phone app (one that I can't get because my phone is too old, but whatever). On the app you can listen to sounds in realtime or record and play back later. Quite useful for teaching or passing along sounds to other doctors who may not be available to see the patient immediately. Wish the app was compatible with my phone, but it's not 100% necessary for my job right now, so I'll just enjoy being able to hear down to someone's toenails for now.