I bought this Prestige Medical Clincial Cardiology last year as a student nurse, when my Littmann Lightweight grew legs. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because my auscultation skill suddenly got a whole lot better. I found I could hear better with the diaphragm, and WAY better with the bell, in terms of both volume and clarity. With my previous scope, I could barely find an apical pulse, and with this one, I discovered heart murmurs that had not previously been in the hospital charts! Tell me THAT doesn't rock! It's not much heavier than my previous scope, and equally comfortable to the ears. Also, this one comes with a pediatric diaphragm that exchanges with the bell, and it's a good one; I could hear with it better than I could with the high-end pediatric scopes floating around the unit where I did that clinical ...and in Minnesota winters, pediatric units fill up with a lot of respiratory junk & you're listening to a lot of lung sounds. The pediatric diaphragm is nice for telling which sounds are coming from which lobes in smaller patients.
Two complaints, though: First, the tubing is quite short, and at times, I have had to get closer to patients than I really wanted to be. This can be awkward both physically and culturally. Second, to use the pediatric diaphragm, you have to take off the bell. Dumb design! Changing between these two is easy, but still not convenient to do in the middle of an assessment, especially when you're in a hurry (when aren't you?), and not having the bell for pediatric heart sounds is a significant limitation. If it were made so you could change between adult & pediatric diaphragms, and retain the bell (which seems to be fine for patients of just about any size), this would be a five-star stethoscope.
Still, most scopes I've seen don't even give you the option of a pediatric diaphragm. And the good volume and clarity are what you really care about. This is a nice one.
Oh, and if you're a new student getting your first stethoscope, don't assume (like I did at first) that a "cardiology" scope is designed specifically for use in cardiology, and may not work well for more general use. The term actually refers to the Y-shaped, dual-lumen tubing, which seems to work well for auscultation in any setting. Nobody bothered to explain that to me. Neither has anyone told me why this confusing terminology continues to be used. This is a good scope whether you're in cardiology or not.Get more detail about Prestige Clinical Cardiology Stethoscope.
