"Stethoscope evolving"... featuring bowel auscultation

MBBS
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Beyond checking auscultations and murmurs, a steth plays a role in determining if your gut is “okay” or “not so okay”.
It helps to determine obstructions, constipation, bowel movement, and bowel sound. It also helps you monitor post-surgical recoveries and intestinal distress.

  1. Existence: The presence or absence of bowel sounds.
  2. Quantity: How frequently can they hear bowel sounds, if any?
  3. Quality: Any distinctive characteristics or abnormal sounds.

Interpreting Sounds
:speaker_low_volume:Normal: Intermittent, low-pitched gurgles or clicks.
:man_running:Hyperactive: More frequent sounds (e.g., more than 30 sounds per minute).
:snail:Hypoactive or Absent: Can indicate various conditions, including ileus, obstruction, or peritonitis.
:loudspeaker:High-pitched: May be a sign of bowel obstruction.

:blossom:What can be another use of a stethoscope that you have seen during clinical rotation?? :blossom:

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I’ve also seen stethoscopes used to assess lung sounds in detail like crackles in pneumonia or wheezing in asthma. It’s amazing how much information a simple tool can give about breathing and respiratory health.

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In addition to auscultation of heart, lungs and bowels, stethoscope can also be put to use in an amazing way:

  1. Just to ensure nasal blockade (stuffiness) in neonates, I use stethoscope to bring it near the nostrils and see if I can make any sense of that.
  2. Auscultation of bruit (any major vessels) and even scalp.
    Let me know additional uses.
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