Are you searching for the best stethoscope for nurses? You have come to the right place then!
A stethoscope is a marvellous tool that can be used to help nurses do their jobs as efficiently as possible. It allows you to listen to a patient’s heartbeat, thereby enabling you to determine the kind of treatment that said patient would be best suited to. However, you can’t just buy any stethoscope on the market. You need to make a calculated decision about what product is best for you because having a good stethoscope will infinitely increase your efficiency as a nurse. Listed below are some of the best stethoscopes for nurses that money can buy.
Top 10 Best Rated Stethoscope for Nurses
Here are our recommendations to help you with your shopping and choose a suitable stethoscope.
1. 3M Littmann Lightweight II S.E. Stethoscope, Black Tube, 28 inches, 2450
This product is rather lightweight which provides numerous benefits including portability. Traveling around with a heavy stethoscope can be a real pain which is why so many people tend to avoid using them. This product will give you no such troubles, and to top it off you would be able to enjoy superior acoustic quality as well. This is a finely crafted product that belies its affordable nature, making it the perfect choice for new nurses that might not have a lot of money at the start of their career.
Anatomical Design
This product is specially designed to fit your ear canal in a way that is comfortable and pleasant thus resulting in far less discomfort during usage.
Naturally Warm Rim
Patients hate it when they have to deal with a cold rim. This product has a non-chill rim that prevents this from happening.
Wide Range of Sounds Captured
Using this stethoscope you will be able to hear pressure drops and heart beats with the highest degree of clarity.
Tunable Diaphragm
This enables you to fine-tune your instrument according to your needs lending you a great deal of versatility.
2. 3M Littmann Classic III Stethoscope, Matte Chest piece, Black Tube, 27 inch, 5803
This product understands that adults and children both need different things from their stethoscope experience. It, therefore, enables you to fine tune it according to your needs, allowing you two different sides with one reserved for adults and the other reserved for children. This is a boon for nurses that work in pediatric hospitals but also have to do rounds in clinics where they have to treat adult patients. Using these stethoscopes nurses can use a single instrument for everything rather than constantly changing things up.
Dual Diaphragm
Two diaphragms to give you the widest range possible when it comes to treating your patients.
Durable Tubing
Tubing often gets stained due to frequent contact with skin oils and the like. This product has tubing that does not get damaged in any way no matter how often you use it.
Powerful Diaphragm
This stethoscope will allow you to monitor heartbeats and blood pressures even through bandages and the like.
Durable Headset
The tubing is not the only part of a stethoscope that often ends up facing a significant amount of damage. The headset also needs to be durable, which is why this product is so useful.
3. Omron Sprague Rappaport Stethoscope, Black
If you want a one size fits all solution for all of your stethoscope needs, you are going to have to check this product out. With a variety of different accessories and tubing that is free of allergenic materials, this is a product that would surely give you your money’s worth. It also doesn’t hurt that it is so affordable, making it the perfect choice for students that are still in nursing school but still need a top quality stethoscope to help them get through it.
Multiple Open Bells
You get three different open bells with this product, each in a different size allowing more versatility for the practical nurse.
Latex Free Tubing
Tubing that is made out of latex may be cheaper but it can cause serious allergic reactions. The tubing in this product is free of any such allergens.
Durable Chest Piece
The chest piece of this product is chrome plated which means that it is not going to get damaged anytime soon.
Affordable
This is one of the more affordable products on the market, a shoo-in for people that love to save money.
4. Dixie EMS Blood Pressure and Sprague Stethoscope Kit
A stethoscope is not all you are going to need if you want to keep your patients as healthy as possible. You are also going to need to check their blood pressure, and this product gives you the tools to do both things at the same time without having to buy these tools separately. This is a solid product for a nurse that tends to move around a lot, as portability is something that has been emphasized quite a bit when it came to the manufacturing of this product.
Multiple Tools
You get a blood pressure gauge as well as a stethoscope when you buy this product.
Handy Bag
If you are the sort of nurse that is always on the move, the bag this product comes with is going to make life a great deal easier for you overall.
Nice Color
You generally don’t think about the aesthetic appeal of a product when you are thinking of buying it, but it certainly does not hurt to buy something that looks nice.
Comfortable to Wear
This product has padded earpieces that are going to feel like a breeze when you have to put in some long hours.
5. MDF Acoustica Deluxe Lightweight Dual Head Stethoscope – All Black (MDF747XP-BO)
This is a product that has been built with lightness in mind. MDF Acoustica is a company that has been manufacturing stethoscopes for decades now, and the interesting thing is that all of their products are handcrafted. This may not sound like a big deal, but when you actually put these headphones on you are going to see just how amazing the sound quality gets when you have something like this on your side. This product is truly worth a purchase.
Multiple Eartips
This is a company that knows that one size certainly does not fit all. This is why they have created three different ear tips that you can use.
Durable yet Lightweight
Don’t let the light nature of this product fool you: this is a stethoscope that can really take a beating and still last a very long time.
Super Acoustic Performance
When you use this product you will be astounded by just how pristine the chest cavity sounds, providing an unsurpassed level of quality.
Lifetime Warranty
If you end up losing a part in this product you need not worry, the lifetime warranty will have you covered!
6. 3M Littmann Classic Ii S.E. 28 inches Stethoscope
This is a stethoscope that has been designed to help nurses treat as many patients as possible. It’s not uncommon to end up getting a patient that has a sizeable chest cavity. If you have a patient like this, you would know that a lot of your stethoscopes are just not going to work. This is why this stethoscope is so special; it will provide you superior audio quality no matter how large the surface area of the patient’s chest cavity is.
Durable Tubing
Nothing is more annoying than folding up the tubing and having it gets kinked up. This product prevents that from happening with some truly durable tubing.
Adjustable Diaphragm
If you need to listen to lower frequencies in a larger chest cavity, you are going to be able to do so quite easily with the tunable diaphragm.
Sealed Eartips
The ear tips for this product are special because of the fact that they block out all other sound allowing you to focus on whatever it is you are trying to listen to.
Nonchill Accessories
This entire product has been manufactured in such a way that you are never going to have to worry about the chill.
7. MDF Galaxy MD One Stainless Steel Dual Head Stethoscope – Limited Edition
The first feature you are going to notice about this product is all of the cool patterns that are visible on it. This is quite cool to look at because of the fact that it resembles the shapes of the galaxies and stars in our night sky. Hence, this product is perfect for nurses that deal with a lot of children since the kids are going to be entranced by what this product can do!
Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is one of the best materials that could possibly be used while constructing a stethoscope because it provides both durability and clarity in sound.
Design
The design is actually one of the best parts about this product because it enables you to make the most of the money you have paid.
Enhanced Durability
The durability of this product is based on special technology that prevents the stethoscope from becoming too heavy.
Handcrafted
The handcrafted nature of this product ensures superior clarity that is truly out of this world and enables you to become as accurate as possible in your readings.
8. 3M Littmann Master Classic II Stethoscope, 27″ Black
When you are buying a stethoscope, there are a couple of things that matter more than anything else. The first of these two things is a comfort, of course, since you are going to be using them a great deal for an extended period of time. The second of these two things is longevity. After all, you are spending money on this product; you would want to know that you are going to get your money’s worth without a doubt even if you are buying a cheaper product.
Patient Friendly
One aspect of this product that is going to attract you, in particular, is how patient-friendly it is. This is because of the fact that it has a non chill rim.
Suspended Diaphragm
This new technology allows you to listen to what is happening in the chest cavity without having to worry about interference from other noise.
Portable
The lightweight nature of this product makes it very easy indeed to carry around everywhere, thus ensuring that you can get to where you need to go without much of a fuss.
Soft Seal Eartips
The ear tips for this product cancel noise without providing any kind of discomfort whatsoever.
9. ADC Adscope Lite 609 Ultra Lightweight Clinician Stethoscope, 31-inch Length, Tactical All Black
This product has a very sleek look to it, one that echoes the modernity of the surrounding world. This is thanks to the fact that the product has been created with the most modern parts, thereby resulting in a stethoscope that will give you everything you could possibly need in a single package. The sleekness of this product extends to its performance as well which is an absolutely top-notch, enabling you to get the most out of it every time you use it.
Lightweight
This is one of the lightest products on the market thanks to its uniform design that consists of a single manufacturing material.
Five Year Warranty
The very long warranty of this product can ensure that you wouldn’t have to worry about buying a new one anytime soon as long as you use it properly.
Versatile Diaphragm
The diaphragm allows you to listen in on both high frequency as well as low-frequency responses in the chest cavity.
Durable
This is a product with tubing that will not kink up no matter how frequently you use it.
10. 3M Littmann 6153 Cardiology IV Stethoscope, Standard-Finish Chestpiece, 27″, Burgundy Tube
There are so many products out there that are focused on low end sounds that higher frequencies often get left out. Hence, this product with its emphasis on higher frequencies is certainly a breath of fresh air that would allow you to take a more proactive role in your patient’s healthcare. Higher frequency diaphragms are perfect for patients that have smaller chest cavities, which make this product perfect for nurses that deal with children a lot.
Variable Pressure
If you know how to use pressure in order to get the results you want from your stethoscope, you are going to be able to do a lot to ensure that this product gets you the information you need.
Beautiful Tubing
The tubing for this product is truly gorgeous as it contrasts brilliantly with the metal bits.
Good Clarity
Higher frequencies can often get noisy which makes it difficult to ascertain what is actually going on in the chest cavity sometimes, but this product is specially designed to ensure that higher frequencies are spaced apart a little more thereby enabling you to make the most of your patient’s time.
The Ultimate Buying Guide – Stethoscopes
How do Stethoscopes Work?
When the heart beats, it creates a very distinct noise. All noise is just vibrations, so what a stethoscope does is it absorbs the vibrations using the diaphragm and sends them up the tubing in way that would ensure that you can hear what is happening. Distortions and the like indicate chest infections, and the various other sounds that doctors might hear using a stethoscope can all help them better understand how the chest is faring and how they can ensure that their patient stays as healthy as possible.
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Things to Consider While Buying a Stethoscope
To make the right decision while buying a stethoscope is essential if you want to be able to truly make the most of your purchase. However, it can be difficult to choose from the various products that you might see on offer, therefore making it essential that you read the buying guide provided below. As long as you ensure that the product you buy conforms to these rules. It’s actually not that difficult if you are willing to put in the effort to finding a product that would last you the longest period of time possible and would enable you to get the best results to boot.
- Clarity
If you are listening to someone’s chest cavity, you need to be able to ascertain what is actually going on in there if you want to be able to give your patient the best care possible. Additionally, it is important to note that buying a product that would give you the widest range of frequencies is essential as well, and clarity plays a role here too since it would enable you to make sense of what you are hearing when the sounds have reached either extreme of the range of frequencies.
- Durability
There are two aspects of durability that you should look into when you are thinking of buying a stethoscope. Firstly is the durability of the tubing. Tubing often gets bent out of shape which can wreak havoc with the sounds that you are hearing from the chest cavity. The second thing is the durability of the metal accessories. These metal bits will knock against hard materials, get dropped on the floor and go through all manner of rough treatment, so it is essential that you get a stethoscope that is made of some solid metal such as stainless steel or chrome.
- Price
A common mistake that people tend to make when they are buying a stethoscope is that they end up getting the most expensive product that they see assuming that it would be worth the price. This is usually not the case. The more expensive products are nothing more than gimmicks, which is why it is so important for you to go for something midrange. Of course, you aren’t supposed to buy products that are extremely cheap either because those would obviously not be very high quality. Buy something that is affordable but just expensive enough to ensure quality.
- Look
You need to get a stethoscope that looks nice not just because it would make you feel better about your purchase but because of the fact that it would put your patients’ minds at ease as well. This is due to the fact that patients tend to take the look of their doctors very seriously. If you don’t look professional, your patients are probably just not going to trust you. Hence, it is very important indeed that you make the most of your purchase by buying something that would make you come across as the sort of doctor that knows exactly what he is talking about.
- Materials Used
If you pay attention to the materials that have been used in the manufacturing of your product chances are that you going to end up with something that is very good indeed. This is because higher quality materials mean a higher quality product, and you certainly want to be able to make the most of your purchase by getting something that has been made with a lot of effort. Try to get something handcrafted as well, as this would help you get the best audio clarity possible from a stethoscope.
Final Verdict
Without a doubt, the best product that money can buy when it comes to stethoscopes is the 3M Littmann Lightweight II S.E. Stethoscope, Black Tube, 28 inches, 2450 with the 3M Littmann Classic III Stethoscope, Matte Chestpiece, Black Tube, 27 inches, 5803 coming in at a close second. 3M Littmann is a company that offers some top-notch stethoscopes as you can plainly see, and these products offer clarity, durability and everything else that you would want from a world-class stethoscope that would enable you to be the very best nurse that you could possibly be.
