Guest guest Posted February 4, 2006 Report Share Posted February 4, 2006 This is first part on an article from the LA Times I found interesting. doug http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-stethoscope30jan30,0,858032.story? coll=la-home-health Nice stethoscope. Now, learn to use it Many doctors haven't mastered the symbol of their profession, medical veterans say. By Melissa Healy, Times Staff Writer The stethoscope may be an icon of the medical profession. But as a tool of the trade, many veteran physicians fear it is becoming a useless prop of doctorhood. As physicians rely on more accurate and expensive tests of cardiac function, including echocardiography, the art of listening to the heart has fallen on hard times. In recent years, a spate of studies has shown that as few as 20% of new doctors and 40% of practicing primary-care doctors can discern the difference between a healthy and a sick heart just by listening to the chorus of whooshes, lub-dubs, gallops and rubs that compose the distinctive music of the human heart. But a handful of veteran physicians are struggling to revive the dying art of cardiac auscultation, or examining the heart with a stethoscope. They may fault the advance of technology for what they believe is a decline in doctors' skills, but these defenders of the stethoscope are no Luddites. They are banking on computer-generated heart sounds, virtual patients, CD-ROMs and that ever-present student friend the iPod to help a new generation of doctors overcome what Dr. Michael Barrett of Temple University recently called their " woeful lack of stethoscope skills. " By honing those skills in the next generation, defenders of the stethoscope hope to shore up physicians' first line of diagnosis, to stem the growth of healthcare costs and to preserve the purpose and integrity of one of medicine's most revered rituals ¡ª the laying on of hands (not to mention hard metal) to treat patients. " A lot of people have talked about the lost soul of medicine, how medicine has changed, " says Dr. Salvatore Mangione of Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, who in 2000 co-wrote an editorial on declining stethoscope skills in the American Journal of Medicine. " The demise of the bedside examination and the refuge we seek in powerful technology is a symptom of that ¡ª we're becoming more technicians and less healers. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 4, 2006 Report Share Posted February 4, 2006 There was a nice article in the Phila inquirer recently: a doctor is using ipods to upload heart sounds for med students to learn. He figured out that it takes 500 repetitions to learn an abnormal heart sound. Cara > This is first part on an article from the LA Times I found interesting. > > doug > > http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-stethoscope30jan30,0,858032.story> ? > coll=la-home-health > > > Nice stethoscope. Now, learn to use it > Many doctors haven't mastered the symbol of their profession, medical veterans > say. > > By Melissa Healy, Times Staff Writer > > The stethoscope may be an icon of the medical profession. But as a tool of the > trade, > many veteran physicians fear it is becoming a useless prop of doctorhood. > > As physicians rely on more accurate and expensive tests of cardiac function, > including > echocardiography, the art of listening to the heart has fallen on hard times. > In recent > years, a spate of studies has shown that as few as 20% of new doctors and 40% > of > practicing primary-care doctors can discern the difference between a healthy > and a sick > heart just by listening to the chorus of whooshes, lub-dubs, gallops and rubs > that > compose the distinctive music of the human heart. > > But a handful of veteran physicians are struggling to revive the dying art of > cardiac > auscultation, or examining the heart with a stethoscope. They may fault the > advance of > technology for what they believe is a decline in doctors' skills, but these > defenders of the > stethoscope are no Luddites. They are banking on computer-generated heart > sounds, > virtual patients, CD-ROMs and that ever-present student friend the iPod to > help a new > generation of doctors overcome what Dr. Michael Barrett of Temple University > recently > called their " woeful lack of stethoscope skills. " > > By honing those skills in the next generation, defenders of the stethoscope > hope to shore > up physicians' first line of diagnosis, to stem the growth of healthcare costs > and to > preserve the purpose and integrity of one of medicine's most revered rituals > ¡ª the laying > on of hands (not to mention hard metal) to treat patients. > > " A lot of people have talked about the lost soul of medicine, how medicine has > changed, " > says Dr. Salvatore Mangione of Thomas Jefferson Medical College in > Philadelphia, who in > 2000 co-wrote an editorial on declining stethoscope skills in the American > Journal of > Medicine. " The demise of the bedside examination and the refuge we seek in > powerful > technology is a symptom of that ¡ª we're becoming more technicians and less > healers. " > > > > > > Chinese Herbal Medicine offers various professional services, including board > approved continuing education classes, an annual conference and a free > discussion forum in Chinese Herbal Medicine. > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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