Today I went stethoscope hunting at the Sydney University Medical Society Bookshop. Here’s some idea of the process a typical USyd medical student goes through when choosing a stethoscope…
- The Faculty of Medicine says that we don’t need cardiology-grade stethoscopes.
- The MedSoc Bookshop staff say that we don’t need cardiology-grade stethoscopes.
- The typical Med 1 student goes ahead and buys a cardiology-grade stethoscope.
I’d asked a few friends about their stethoscopes: HC (Med 3) and PC (Med 3) both use the Prestige Clinical Cardiology, whilst FT (Med 2) uses a Littmann Cardiology III. Whilst 3M Littmann is the most popular brand of stethoscope on the market, I wanted to test out the full range of stethoscopes available at the MedSoc Bookshop before making my purchase.
MDF 797 Classic Cardiology stethoscope
I eventually settled on the MDF 797 Classic Cardiology stethoscope because of it’s quality and because it’s great value for money – only AU$16.20 more expensive than the very popular Littmann Classic II SE (a conventional stethoscope) for MedSoc Bookshop members. I won’t repeat the product features/specifications of the MDF 797 here (they’re on the MDF website), but suffice to say the design and features are comparable to the Littmann Cardiology II. It’s made in the United States, comes with a 2 year warranty and MDF offers free lifetime replacement of eartips, diaphragms and rims. Incidentally, for $24.75 more the MDF 797DD ER Premier stethoscope adds a paediatric diaphragm with bell conversion (similar to the Littmann Cardiology III), however I decided that this wasn’t necessary in my case.
MDF 797 chestpiece bell and eartips close-up
I had the chance to compare the MDF 797 to the Prestige Clinical Cardiology and the Littmann Cardiology III, and found all three to be acoustically comparable with clear loud sound transmission, and noticeably superior to standard stethoscopes. If anything, as a novice I found the flat diaphragms on the MDF and Prestige stethoscopes to be easier to use than the tunable diaphragm on the Littmann stethoscopes but your mileage may vary. So anyone out there looking for a new stethoscope, if having a brand-name Littmann isn’t essential, I recommend giving the MDF 797 serious consideration.
Hm… now that I have one, where does my stethoscope go?
I’ve owned an MDF (Cardiology Dual Head), a Littmann (Cardio III) and a Welch-Allyn (Elite) stethoscope. (If this seems a lot, I’ve needed to replace them as they were stolen and or lost on the wards – be careful out there!)
The MDF is OK (i prefer the welch-allyn) but frankly I found it a little overpriced in Australia. MedSoc do give a decent 15% discount – but if you search online you’ll find the MDF products available MUCH cheaper from overseas, which makes me suspect that MedSoc is marking these stethoscopes up beyond market price.
Charlie
That’s a lot of (expensive) steths to have lost! Fair call about the price thing though. I’m not familiar with the details on how the MedSoc Bookshop sets its prices, but in general I’ve observed that almost all medical books and equipment tend to be overpriced in Australia.