Medical student’s perception of electronic stethoscope designing and its use as a learning tool

Abstract

Introduction: In Indian educational setting, clinical examination is taught to Ist M.B.B.S. students in physiology. In auscultation, generally an acoustic stethoscope available in the market is used. It will be, however, interesting to teach auscultation with the help of electronic stethoscope, where they can amplify, record and playback various sounds. Secondly, there is scope of electronic stethoscope in rural setup and telemedicine. As learning through electronic stethoscopic auscultation will better equip students for future and the cost of available digital stethoscope is high, we decided to construct electronic stethoscope and use it in our educational setting and study the perception of electronic stethoscope designing and use in learning and clinical practice. Method: Acoustic stethoscope, rubber tubing, condenser mic, headphone cable with 3.5 mm jack, laptop and audacity software. The undergraduate students were demonstrated with the construction of electronic stethoscope, recording and playback of various sounds with it. A questionnaire based on the objectives of use and implication of electronic stethoscope was prepared, the responses obtained were analysed using MS-Excel. Results: Most of the students were comfortable using electronic stethoscope, now they can confidently identify the sounds in clinical practice, they also felt it should be used in regular undergraduate teaching. Many agreed that compared to traditional stethoscope, electronic stethoscopic auscultation give better judgment, and also the korotkoff sounds are better appreciated with it. Conclusion: We found that electronic stethoscope can be easily constructed and should be used for undergraduate teaching in a medical college.

Keywords

• Auscultation
• Electronic Stethoscope
• Medical Education