Blood Pressure Cuffs & Stethoscopes?

I never did bring much personal stuff with me. Personal Shears, Personal Stethoscope (Littman Cardiology III), book, Field Guide.
 
Some intersting things it seems. So pretty much the basics w/ some time passers :)
 
Sizz said:
Some intersting things it seems. So pretty much the basics w/ some time passers :)
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Essentially, yes. Your agency should basically supply everything that you need. You would question if, say, your agency expected you to pay for gas for your ambulance. Now, for various reasons, most companies supply the bare minimum. Rapport-sprague (sp?) steths and the cheapest BP cuff possible (and, to be honest, it's understandable. High wear environment and Tragedy of the Commons). Having a personal steth and BP cuff just makes my job easier and more enjoyable.
 
I wish we had the hand pumps here. Used one last week doing scenarios at another instituations training facility. They were nice. This would be the only thing I would consider picking up aside from my own scope. Everything else I'll let the service provide.
 
Just don't spend too much on either your first stethoscope or sphygmomanometer, but do spend enough to ensure that both are reliable and accurate.

Avoid cheap imports, look for high quality U.S. or German brands. Buy online and look for good deals on shipping.
 
Pro tip (albeit maybe a little late for this year). Hit up med schools during welcome week. We were getting great deals ($30-50 rebates, reduced retail prices. Some of the diagnostic kits (opthalmoscope and otoscope sets) were upto $400 off (panoptic set's list price is around $1100. Welch Allyn was selling them for $700. Still overpriced and too fancy for our needs though) from the Welch Allyn reps.
 
B/P Cuff and Stethoscope

I don't recommend that you go out and purchase expensive equiptment....stethoscopes range in price from $14.99 to $500, depending on the brand....

I bought a stethoscope for $15.00 6 years ago, and it still works great...the blood pressure cuff was around the same price.....and purchased it around the same time, and to be honest....I've only used it about 6 times....

The only time I used my own B/P cuff was to monitor my dads b/p, other than that.....I don't use it out there in the field....every rig is equipt with b/p cuffs (X-Large, Large, Med., Small (Adult); Child and infant)...Stethoscopes, well they're already on the rigs.....but I still use my own.

In other words....if you don't really need it, don't buy it......if you do purchase your own, go with something inexpensive.

I still carry my own stethoscope and b/p cuff in the car at all times.....I tend to run into accident scenes where there's no EMS on scene yet, therefore I stop to make sure everyone is alright......
 
EMTguy69 said:
I don't recommend that you go out and purchase expensive equiptment....stethoscopes range in price from $14.99 to $500, depending on the brand....

I bought a stethoscope for $15.00 6 years ago, and it still works great...the blood pressure cuff was around the same price.....and purchased it around the same time, and to be honest....I've only used it about 6 times....

The only time I used my own B/P cuff was to monitor my dads b/p, other than that.....I don't use it out there in the field....every rig is equipt with b/p cuffs (X-Large, Large, Med., Small (Adult); Child and infant)...Stethoscopes, well they're already on the rigs.....but I still use my own.

In other words....if you don't really need it, don't buy it......if you do purchase your own, go with something inexpensive.

I still carry my own stethoscope and b/p cuff in the car at all times.....I tend to run into accident scenes where there's no EMS on scene yet, therefore I stop to make sure everyone is alright......
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Ew. I bought my own for that reason. Mileage will vary but in general with scopes, the more expensive the more quality (when dealing with non-electrics) in general. There is a section in the post started by Mr. Conspiracy about the abstracts. It is a link to a good article that rates 15(?) scopes in price and quality from 5$ up to 300$. I got a cardiology III when I first started and baby it. My only complaint is I wish the tubes were longer. For me I can't beat the comfort, I found some ear pieces that fit my ears perfect and went with em. Read up on the other scope threads to get many many more opinions.
 
I bought my own stethoscope (Littmann Select) for ~$60, and my own BP cuff for $15 when I started EMT. This was to practice BP in a moving vehicle whenever I could.


Trashed the BP cuff, but stil have my Littmann and LOVE it. Now that I'm in medic school, I can somewhat justify spending the money for it too :P


I'd rather not use someone elses steth in the ED if I could just have my own with me.
 
Started Aug 22.
 
I dont think its really necessary to take someones bp if you are not on duty and are just a bystander. Make sure you have your ABC's and control any bleeding until an ambulance gets there and thats about all you really need to do.
 
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