Doctors Need More Experience With Stethoscopes
Last week, I posted Dr. Hopcroft’s opinion that stethoscopes were not particularly useful for diagnosing heart trouble. His opinion may not be a common one among other doctors.
In the March 27, 2006 edition of The Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers suggest that doctors who have more experience in using the stethoscope (auscultation) are better able to detect pathologic heart disorders.
Gregory Marcus, MD, cardiology fellow at UCSF:
Identifying the S3 sound [third heart sound] is important in the diagnosis of heart disease [in adults], requires relatively little time and is accessible to any physician with a stethoscope. This is especially important because patients and their physicians do not always have immediate access to the latest diagnostic tools capable of detecting problems with the heart.
So there it is. Stethoscopes are useful but doctors need to be properly trained.
Medical News Today, March 30, 2006
Tags: cardiovascular-disease, cvd, doctors, health, heart, heart-disease, physicians, stethoscopesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Hearty Healthcare, Hearty Research
4 opinions for Doctors Need More Experience With Stethoscopes
Paul Mernon
Mar 31, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I believe that knowledgable and skilled doctor can do miracles even with simple tools. While sounds from stethoscope can be the same, doctor with more experience can find more in that sounds than less experienced one.
Joyce Brandon
Mar 31, 2006 at 2:14 pm
After meeting more doctors last year than I’ve met in my whole life (husband diagnosed with crohn’s)… I have to say that in addition to being properly trained in how to listen to the heart with a stethoscope - being properly trained in how to listen to the patients themselves would be helpful for a number of doctors.
Doctors are useful, but need to be properly trained.
Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD
Apr 1, 2006 at 4:12 am
Paul: Absolutely. Training and a doctor’s particular skills are overwhelmingly important in effective patient care.
Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD
Apr 3, 2006 at 4:08 am
Joyce: So true. Doctors not only need to be properly trained, they need to have the right temperament so that their patients feel cared for both physically and psychologically. They’ve got to have heart. ;)
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