They say, it’s very likely to get all types of patients at Calicut Medical College and that includes the rarest of cardiac diseases. When I was an intern there, we had a Fallot’s tetralogy child at the paediatrics ward and every time we saw the cheerful child, we thought about the 4 cardiac deformities in her little heart. I felt, it could have been so much easier for the students, interns, and even our faculty to just record her cardiac murmers instead of auscultating her multiple times just for the sake of teaching. That would have been easier for the poor kid and her father too, who had to accompany her to the “side-room” every time she was called upon for a case presentation. Not even our HOD had the electronic stethoscope back then! A simple recording of the murmers one time would have saved a lot of time and effort for both parties.

Enough of the past, now Amazon has made it super easy to own an electronic stethoscope from 3M and this article is just about that, a complete review of the 3200 BK stethoscope from the popular and premium manufacturers in the whole planet. So, let’s get started then.

Features

• 3M patented ambient noise reduction technology provides 85% reduction in background noise. This feature is particularly helpful in a busy medicine ward or emergency room on an admission day! Any doctor will be willing to pay extra just for this one feature they require in their daily driver stethoscope. This is done without affecting the vital body sounds of the patient.
• 24 times amplification of the body sounds makes even the faintest of bowel sounds to be heard crisper and clearer every single time. Your friends and colleagues, even your teachers will be keen to listen using your super audible electronic stethoscope. It’s also useful if you’re having a mild to moderate level of hearing loss. Don’t ever think that your hearing impairment will stop you from pursuing that Cardiology super-specialty that you’ve always dreamt of. This stethoscope will make you the King of auscultation, with this single feature alone.
• Record up to 12 audio clips of body sounds right in this stethoscope. Yeah, this is the feature that I love the most. It’s handy when you’re busy and don’t have much time to spend on a single examination. You can simply record the faint heart, lung or bowel sound and then file it in your smartphone or computer for later reviewing. Are you a researcher? or are you preparing a thesis? This is the stethoscope that you’ll need the most. The 12 clips could be of one single patient or it could be of multiple patients and each clip is 30 seconds long which is more than sufficient. These audio clips can be stored wherever you want them to be. Share it with your fellow peers and ask them their opinion on that rare diastolic click you picked up during the rounds the other day. The 3M Littmann electronic stethoscope allows recording in the bell, diaphragm and the extended modes. Do you have a practice software or electronic medical record system? You can easily attach these recorded clips to individual patient’s medical records and store them in the cloud for future use. The practical application of such clinical audio clips is so much more and is really beyond the scope of this article.
• Another neat feature is the ability to hear the body sounds through the built-in speaker. It can be done while doing the examination or at a later time when you review the recorded audio files. This makes it possible for the patients to listen to their own body sounds and can be used by the doctor to explain the condition to the patients in a better way. Did I mention the ability to playback the recorded audio clips in half, normal or double speed?
• Patient’s heart beat can be visualised as a simple phonocardiogram with other details like heart rate, battery percentage displayed. It’s a well lit LCD display that can be easily operated. Other functions that can be adjusted include frequency and sound level selections.

Likes

• Even though it’s natural to expect a stethoscope that carries two AA batteries to be bulky and heavy, I must admit, the 3M Littmann 3200 electronic stethoscope is surprisingly light.
• The built quality is top-notch and the tubings with the chest-piece is really rugged. It’s built to last.
• The buttons are easily accessible and of good quality.
• Auto power on and off feature helps prevent unnecessary battery drainage and is comfortable for doctors. They don’t have to remember to turn the device off every time after auscultation and the next time when they need to use it, they don’t have to turn any buttons. It automatically turns on when the chest-piece comes in contact with the patient.
• Two years of warranty will make you tension free if anything goes wrong
• 3M soft sealing earths don’t need to be mentioned in detail here
• Easy connectivity in 3200 series with Bluetooth technology

Dislikes

• Priced at nearly half a lakh Indian Rupees, the 3M 3200 electronic stethoscope is really expensive
• The user manual booklet which comes in the box is really thick, I mean you’ll never go through it after first sight!
• Batteries needs to be changed at least once a month. It’ll be better to go for rechargeable batteries

Verdict

If you can shell out 90k for the latest iPhone X and 70k for the Pixel 2, then it wouldn’t harm to buy this fantastic digital futuristic stethoscope for around 50k INR. Apart form it’s high cost, there is no single bad thing that I can point about the Littmann electronic 3200 stethoscope. Add to that the quality of Littmann stethoscopes, noise cancellation features, sound amplification and soft-sealing earths. Everything about this stethoscope looks and feels premium. So, just go for it and become the expert on heart sounds and breathe sounds whom others envy to become. Never miss out on that rare diastolic murmer ever again and go hi-tech with the electronic 3200 Littmann stethoscope.

Buy the Littmann electronic 3200 Stethoscope with Bluetooth Now!