How to Use a Littmann Stethoscope

Littmann stethoscopes are among the most popular brands used by physicians and nurses. They are easy to use and designed to provide optimal lung and cardiac sounds.

Things You'll Need

• Quiet environment

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Instructions

• 1

  Ensure that you have a quiet environment so that you may hear lung and heart sounds clearly. Turn off televisions and radios and close the patient's door to eliminate hallway noise.

• 2

  Always place your Littmann stethoscope directly on the patient's skin, if possible, to achieve the best audio quality. You must always listen to heart sounds by pressing the bell and diaphragm directly on the skin, but can listen to lung and bowel sounds through a very thin shirt, if necessary.

• 3

  Place the earpieces of the stethoscope into your ears. You can put either ear piece into either ear. The tubing flowing down from the earpieces leads to the diaphragm and bell at the bottom. These are the pieces you will use to listen to body sounds. By turning the diaphragm-bell unit clockwise, you can switch each part on and off.

• 4

  Start listening to the patient with the diaphragm. This is the round and flat piece. Turn the entire piece clockwise while tapping lightly onto the diaphragm until you hear the tapping in your ear pieces. That means the diaphragm is on. This piece is used for all body sounds.

• 5

  The bell is the small piece that literally looks like a small bell. After you listen with the diaphragm, you can use the bell for cardiac sounds. This piece will detect low-frequency sounds and helps detect heart murmurs.