# new emt stethoscope



## Joker5o0 (Jul 27, 2011)

I'm a pretty new emt (certified about a month now) and i just purchased the ADC 603 since it had good reviews and was alot less than a littmann. I am a little confused with the different heads and functions. The manual talks about high and low frequency sounds but doesn't say which sounds are high vs low (i.e. is BP high or low, how about lung sounds). I'm also confused with when to use the diaphragm (big side) vs when to use the bell (smaller side). Any help would be greatly appreciated and sorry if it's a really stupid question, my EMT course covered stethoscopes, BP, and lung sounds in about 20 minutes.


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## Joker5o0 (Jul 27, 2011)

*new to stethoscope*

I'm a pretty new emt (certified about a month now) and i just purchased the ADC 603 since it had good reviews and was alot less than a littmann. I am a little confused with the different heads and functions. The manual talks about high and low frequency sounds but doesn't say which sounds are high vs low (i.e. is BP high or low, how about lung sounds). I'm also confused with when to use the diaphragm (big side) vs when to use the bell (smaller side). Any help would be greatly appreciated and sorry if it's a really stupid question, my EMT course covered stethoscopes, BP, and lung sounds in about 20 minutes.


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## ffemt8978 (Jul 27, 2011)

Duplicate threads merged.


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## Joker5o0 (Jul 27, 2011)

sorry, figured i'd put it under both as it's fitting of either category.


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## BrickEMT (Jul 28, 2011)

I'm actually not sure myself, I usually just use the larger side... i was told the smaller side was for pediatrics but now I'm pretty sure that's BS. Sorry I couldn't be more help, I'm sure a quick google search could answer that.


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## rwik123 (Jul 28, 2011)

As a basic, frequency doesn't really apply. Examples of low frequency sounds are gallops and rumbles while higher frequency sounds are murmurs for example. Use low pressure when doing BP as Korotkoff sounds are low frequency and high pressure will cut the sound out. The intricacies of low and high frequencies are more applicable to cardiologists and MDs in general but even then the whole mastery of auscultation is being abandoned for diagnostics such as echocardiograms.


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