Abstract | OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of a traditional stethoscope versus an electronically amplified one (expected to reduce background and ambient noise) to assess heart and respiratory sounds during medical transport. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a prospective, double-blinded, randomized performed study. One traditional stethoscope (Littmann Cardiology III; 3M, St Paul, MN) and 1 electronically amplified stethoscope (Littmann 3200, 3M) were used for our tests. Heart and lung auscultation during real medical evacuations aboard a medically configured Falcon 50 aircrafts were studied. The quality of auscultation was ranged using a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10 (0 corresponding to "I hear nothing" and 10 to "I hear perfectly"). Data collected were compared using a t-test for paired values. RESULTS: A total of 40 comparative evaluations were performed. For cardiac auscultation, the value of the rating scale was 4.53 ± 1.91 and 7.18 ± 1.88 for the traditional and amplified stethoscope, respectively (paired t-test: P < .0001). For respiratory sounds, quality of auscultation was estimated at 3.1 ± 1.95 for a traditional stethoscope and 5.10 ± 2.13 for the amplified one (paired t-test: P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that practitioners would be better helped in hearing cardiac and respiratory sounds with an electronically amplified stethoscope than with a traditional one during air medical transport in a medically configured Falcon 50 aircraft.
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Authors | Emmanuelle Fontaine, Sébastien Coste, Chrystelle Poyat, Céline Klein, Hugues Lefort, Thomas Leclerc, Stéphane Dubourdieu, Frédérique Briche, Daniel Jost, Olga Maurin, Laurent Domanski, Jean-Pierre Tourtier |
Journal | Air medical journal
(Air Med J)
2014 Nov-Dec
Vol. 33
Issue 6
Pg. 283-5
ISSN: 1532-6497 [Electronic] United States |
PMID | 25441521
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Randomized Controlled Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
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Copyright | Copyright © 2014 Air Medical Journal Associates. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
Topics |
- Adult
- Air Ambulances
- Auscultation
(instrumentation)
- Double-Blind Method
- Female
- Humans
- Lung
- Male
- Prospective Studies
- Stethoscopes
- Young Adult
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