Frequently Asked Questions
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An incoming student majoring in a health sciences program needs a stethoscope. Who is responsible for purchasing an amplified stethoscope, and how will the instructor know that the student is accurately reporting information and describing sounds?
Purchasing a Stethoscope
If the health sciences program makes stethoscopes available for students during class, then accessible technology should also be available for students with hearing loss. It may be difficult, however, to purchase an amplified stethoscope without student involvement because it is difficult to speculate on how effective a particular device may be for potential students. Consulting with deaf or hard-of-hearing professionals who use amplified stethoscopes may help if the student cannot participate in the selection process.
A student in a health sciences program that continually uses a stethoscope should consider purchasing his/her own device. Several amplified models may be a good fit for a student with residual hearing and use of personal amplification; this might involve the use of either telecoils or direct audio input. Students with cochlear implants (CIs) may be able to use a patch cord to plug their CI processor into a stethoscope. Some stethoscopes can be connected with an output jack to a PDA equipped with specialized software to create a visual display. The Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses (AMPHL) provides an overview of this topic on its website; note the references below for contact information.
Using a Stethoscope
The classroom instructor may use a "teaching stethoscope" when working with students to identify heart and lung sounds, or to give an accurate blood pressure reading. A teaching stethoscope generally has more than one headset so simultaneous listening can occur; some models offer the option of filtering or amplifying the sounds. Other models can be connected with/to a PDA to create a sound recording for classroom use.
Students should practice using the stethoscope so that they can better understand the sounds they hear. They also can use audio materials available online or on CD to distinguish normal and abnormal heart and lung sounds. Several of these are described on the AMPHL website. In addition, graphic auscultation systems may be used to see heartbeats instead of hear them.
Resources
- Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss www.amphl.org
- PAH-MD (Promoting Awareness in Health Care, Medical and Deaf) www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/stdnt/pahmd/
- Exceptional Nurse www.exceptionalnurse.com/
- Accommodation and Compliance Series: Nurses with Disabilities (Job Accommodation Network) www.jan.wvu.edu/media/nurses.html