What Kind of Stethoscope Do I Need?

3M Littman
Cardiology III Stethoscope

Different medical and emergency professionals require vastly different supplies and equipment. An EMT, cardiac nurse, and general practitioner will each need their own individual paraphernalia to suit their career obligations. One universal tool that every practitioner – regardless of type, education level, or specialty – needs is the common stethoscope. Every office, ambulance, hospital, clinic, facility, and trauma bag is equipped with a stethoscope. Scopes are available in a huge variety of styles and colors with customizable features and attachments for the perfect fit, no matter your taste or profession.

Who needs a stethoscope?

Virtually everyone who responds to medical needs will use a stethoscope on a regular basis. An EMT or other emergency responder should keep one in his or her bag; a nurse, physician’s assistant, or doctor uses one on practically every patient; respiratory therapists rely on scopes to determine treatment courses and measure progress; and medical professors demonstrate proper technique and listening methods.

Code Blue!

There’s a crisis in the ICU, the operating theater, a patient room, the emergency center. A patient is “coding” – he has stopped breathing, she is in cardiac arrest, an elderly patient has collapsed, a heart has stopped mid-surgery. The call goes out over the loudspeaker, summoning a specialized “crash team” of professionals trained in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) to resuscitate the unfortunate individual. The team, typically made up of various medical personnel and emergency responders, works as a unit under the team leader to perform lifesaving efforts on the patient. In “running a code,” every member of the team is required to understand his or her role and work in sync with the others; teamwork, trust, and well-defined responsibilities keep them unified and coordinated. Even the most cohesive group, however, cannot be a match for a Code Blue without the availability, proximity, and reliability of high-quality emergency resuscitation equipment and supplies.

An emergency cart, or “crash cart” as it is more commonly known, serves as a focal supply center for the crash team. An undersupplied or substandard cart results in confusion among the responders, a frantic scramble for appropriate equipment, and often the death of or irreversible damage to the patient due to a delay in proper treatment. Whether your cart is situated in a busy hospital, quiet outpatient surgical center, hectic clinic, or generally predictable nursing facility, it must be stocked and ready for use at all times. Read on to find out what your crash cart must contain in order to perform its function: waiting to save lives.

Making a Career Choice? Consider This

Grey’s Anatomy. ER. Scrubs. Private Practice. M*A*S*H*.  Dr. Kildare.  Dozens of television’s most popular shows, dating back to the mid-1900s, focus on the dramatic and heroic lives of doctors and medical personnel in assorted positions. We as a society often glorify the medical career, leading to changes in popular medical specialties in correlation with shifting societal demographics. Idealistic medical students tend to choose a specialty based on its attractiveness, the status associated with fashionable “hot” fields, and the enticing salaries that come with entering most high-demand departments. They may crave the excitement of the emergency room, the delicate concentration and prominence of surgery, or the lucrative earnings of cardiology. The choice may also be influenced by the trends and needs of society; plastic surgery to address growing societal pressure, orthopedic surgery to keep up with the professional athletic community, or psychiatry to help the mounting population of those affected by war or tragedy or grappling with mental illness.

One field of medicine is grossly overlooked despite a critical need for it. As America’s baby boomer generation – those born in the years following World War II, considered the time period from 1946 to 1964 by the U.S. Census Bureau – ages, the demand for qualified geriatricians is constantly rising. According to the American Geriatric Society, by the year 2030 we will need approximately 30,000 geriatricians to care for more than 70 million baby boomers reaching retirement age. Unfortunately, as of 2012 there were only 7,356 certified geriatricians in the United States and about half of all medical students are not required to complete geriatric training.

Walker or Rollator – Which one is Right for Me?

Standard Walker

Until the invention of walkers (also known as walking frames) in the 1950s, individuals with disabilities or short-term walking difficulties were confined to wheelchairs until they were able to support themselves with a cane. That arrangement was detrimental to those with the ability to walk supported; those with chronic disabilities were unable to achieve a higher level of independence while others with temporary conditions experienced drawn-out recovery times without a reliable transition aid from wheelchair to walking. Today we are fortunate to have a wide variety of walking assistance tools to address every need, from persistent mobility impairments such as cerebral palsy or paralysis to rehabilitation following injury or surgery. The seemingly endless selection of walkers and rollators does pose one challenge, though: it can be exceedingly difficult to locate the right one!

  

At first glance, walkers and rollators are very similar. In fact, many classify rollators as wheeled walkers. While they do indeed bear remarkable similarities, there are important differences between a walker and rollator that will influence your decision in choosing one over the other.Read on for a comprehensive comparison of different types of walking aids to help you find one that suits your lifestyle and individual situation.

We Salute the Nurses of the World!

WWII Nurse Corps Recruitment Poster

Join us at Tiger Medical Supplies as we honor the month of May, a month loaded with days dedicated to the devoted individuals in the nursing profession. National Nurses’ Day (also known as National RN Recognition Day) is observed on May 6^th, kicking off Nurses’ Week, which includes National School Nurse Day (May 11^th) and culminates in International Nurses’ Day (May 12^th). The entire month of May is considered Oncology Nurses’ Month. This month is the perfect time to celebrate your employees, your personal nurse, your nurse friends and/or family members, or yourself, if you are dedicated to the demanding, often thankless profession; May is the month to applaud yourself for your achievements and caring. Even student nurses are recognized – May 8^th is National Student Nurses’ Day, encouraging those who are training for this noble endeavor.

Whether you are a seasoned veteran of the nursing field or a student in your first week of nursing school, you know that the career you have chosen is not necessarily an easy or relaxing one, but has the potential to be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. For hundreds of years, loyal nurses committed to helping people have made history, transforming the face of healthcare, wars, and even entire countries. They have fought for their beliefs and created nationwide – even worldwide – organizations to change the world for the better.

A Simple Solution to Improve Your Lifestyle

Along with food and shelter, sleep is quickly becoming widely recognized as one of the most crucial commodities, a necessity rather than a luxury. Forced sleep deprivation has been used for decades in the interrogation of prisoners, sparking debates over whether the technique qualifies as torture or not. Navy SEAL trainees must endure, as part of their infamous Hell Week, days of little to no sleep, putting their bodies and minds under extreme duress. And approximately four ordinary people like you and me are fatally injured in vehicular accidents related to tired drivers falling asleep at the wheel or unable to avoid a crash due to slowed reflexes and focusing skills.

Warning Sign in Utah

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asserts that drowsy driving is a leading cause of accidents, injuries, and deaths, accounting for at least 100,000 crashes, 40,000 injuries, and 1,550 deaths yearly; they also proclaim these numbers should realistically be higher due to the underreporting of fatigue as a cause of an accident. [1] Drowsy driving accidents characteristically involve a single car with a lone driver and occur during the late night, early morning, or mid-afternoon hours, when exhaustion is most likely to set in. The three population groups who are considered to be at the highest risk of fatigue-related accidents are teenagers and young adults, night-shift workers and those with long or irregular hours, and people of all ages suffering from untreated sleep disorders, namely sleep apnea and narcolepsy.[2]

Do I Need an EMR or EHR System?

It seems almost futuristic: a patient arrives at the hospital and checks in using an airport-style kiosk. His full medical record, including multiple diagnostic test results and doctors’ notes, is accessible on his bedside screen and on connected computers throughout the hospital. A nurse administers medication and checks his vital signs; the information is automatically included in his file and conveyed to all involved medical personnel. When his hospital stay concludes, all information regarding his updated history is relayed to his doctors with a few keystrokes – no printing, faxing, or mailing necessary – where it will be incorporated into his chart and fully updated before the next time he visits the office. Seems too good to be true? It may be…

CardioPerfect Workstation

The introduction of electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) systems into our healthcare structure has been met with mixed reviews. While the use of EHR and EMR systems are becoming widespread in private practices, clinics, hospitals, and nursing facilities, some users express dissatisfaction with their systems for various reasons, such as inefficiency, technological dependency, and high costs. Others appreciate the EHR/EMR’s performance as it delivers the results they expect – improved workflow, decreased human error, and better staff communication and patient tracking. Read on for a comprehensive review of electronic medical and health record systems to help you decide whether implementing an EHR/EMR would help or hinder your facility.

Road Rash

For avid cyclers and skaters, there is nothing that can compare to the adrenaline rush, to the wind in their hair and faces, to the thrill of the sport… or to the pain and consequences of an untimely injury. While cycling is an excellent, low-cost and low-impact fitness activity, it carries plenty of risks for unpleasant mishaps. One of the most commonly occurring injuries is the shallow but painful skin abrasion referred to in the cycling world as “road rash.”

Road Rash & Scarring

When a cyclist or skater falls off of his or her bike, board, or skates, he or she makes damaging and often prolonged contact with the road as he or she lands on the ground and/or slides due to continuing momentum. While most abrasions are not deep or serious, they often remove several layers of skin and can be inordinately painful without excessive bleeding. If road rash is not treated promptly and properly, however, the seemingly harmless scrape can lead to more acute conditions.

Outfitting Your New Office (Part III)

Lab Coat

Your office is nearly ready to open! The waiting room, front desk, offices, exam rooms, and lab are furnished and equipped with diagnostic and other necessary tools. The last category of materials needed to get the office running is medical supplies – disposables, lab supplies, cleaning agents, and apparel.

Outfitting Your New Office (Part II)

Autoclave

Last week we guided you through the crucial challenge of furnishing an office. However tastefully designed and furnished, though, the office is worthless without the medical gear and provisions that are essential to the main purpose of the office: to diagnose and treat medical conditions. Now that your office is set up with cabinetry, filing systems, desks, and other fittings, you can begin filling it with the supplies and equipment required to get it running.

Outfitting Your New Office (Part I)

Exam Table

Congratulations! You’ve made the career-altering decision to open your own practice. With this significant change comes countless new responsibilities; one of the most pressing concerns is the purchase or lease of an office and the furnishing and setup of said office for optimal workflow, patient comfort, and staff efficiency. With a dizzying array of options in every area of office arrangement and organization – furniture! equipment! supplies! filing! – the process may seem insurmountable. Our guide to setting up your office is designed to help you find exactly what you need to suit your individual needs, preferences, tastes, and budget.

Mobility with Style

For thousands of years, people with disabilities were viewed as inferior, damaged, even evil. The ancient Greeks believed that those with physical imperfections were substandard, corroborated by Plato’s philosophy that the “deformed” ought to have been put away in “mysterious unknown places.” Later, theologians Martin Luther and John Calvin asserted that people with mental and physical limitations were possessed by evil spirits that necessitated painful and cruel exorcisms. As time went on, tolerance for disabilities did not increase; rather, Darwinists and similar evolutionists lobbied against aid for people with impairments, rationalizing that the continuity of an “inferior species” would interfere with survival of the fittest and a superior race. In a similar vein, Hitler and his Nazi party sought to eliminate all people with disabilities, claiming that their very existence tainted their pure-blooded nation. Historically, people with physical, emotional, and/or mental challenges have not been treated well and remained stigmatized until fairly recently.

Today, people with impairments are more fortunate than they ever have been. They are protected by laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, which ensure that they are awarded equal rights in the workforce and educational systems and are granted accessibility to public places. They are not only tolerated, however; people with disabilities are fully accepted and embraced as being just like everyone else. This is evidenced in countless respects: in the sports world, with the Paralympics, International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, and organized wheelchair-bound participants in dance competitions; in popular culture, demonstrated by actors such as Christopher Reeve and Michael J. Fox and stage and film presence of people with dwarfism and other conditions – in typical roles, not as “freaks” in carnival sideshows as they were in years past – and musicians like Itzhak Perlman and Stevie Wonder; and in the academic world, where students of all abilities are admitted to schools and people like Stephen Hawking are celebrated rather than shunned. Humankind has made great strides in our attitude toward those with differing abilities.

The Silent Killer

It may sound like the title of a horror movie, but the condition dubbed “the silent killer” is all too real. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, accounts for an astonishing 40.6% of all cardiovascular disease-related deaths, more than smoking, poor diet, insufficient activity, and abnormal glucose levels, according to the American Heart Association. Being that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention asserts that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States – killing approximately 600,000 men and women of all ethnicities annually – hypertension is indeed a cause for tremendous concern and action. It affects roughly 76.4 million Americans over age twenty; put simply, one in every three United States residents has high blood pressure.

Hypertension is known as the silent killer due to the fact that it often goes undetected until it manifests itself in other serious health conditions. Left untreated, hypertension can and frequently does lead to stroke, heart attack, angina, heart and/or kidney failure, and peripheral artery disease, among other life-threatening illnesses. While it is regularly – and often correctly – blamed on and linked to a range of factors such as stress, anxiety, obesity, smoking, drinking, and family history, essential (or primary) hypertension most often occurs without a clear cause. Secondary hypertension, which is far less common than its primary counterpart, is directly linked to various medications and ailments such as kidney disease, diabetes, pregnancy (when it is known as preeclampsia), endocrine disease, and cancer.

Reduce This Common Infection to Reduce Costs

There is an infection of epidemic proportions afflicting our healthcare system. It accounts for more than a staggering 30% of all healthcare-associated infections reported by acute care hospitals[1], making it the most prevalent infection in hospitals, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, and homebound patients, according to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC). Over 600,000 patients develop the infection yearly[2]; in an acute care setting, the daily risk of becoming infected is between 3% and 7%[3]. The condition may lead to more serious complications such as secondary bloodstream infections, prolonged hospital stays resulting increased costs and pain, and even death. 

What is this rampant infection? one may question. Is it a staph infection? A “superbug” such as MRSA? Pneumonia?

In reality, the dreaded illness is the seemingly humble urinary tract infection. It affects hundreds of thousands of patients annually in our healthcare system. It is easy to dismiss a urinary tract infection with simple antibiotics or a regimen of cranberry juice, but it can lead to a host of secondary infections and illnesses. UTIs affect every part of the urinary system, including the lower urinary tract (manifesting itself as a bladder infection), upper urinary tract (resulting in the more painful kidney infection), urethra, and ureters. Furthermore, a typical UTI may quickly develop into periurethral abscess, epididymitis, cystitis, or the serious and often fatal urosepsis or bacteremia, infections of the bloodstream.

Highly Sought-After Pediatric Positioning Product Unveiled by Wenzelite

Wenzelite Tilt and Recline

For children with moderate to severe physical and neurological disabilities (such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, paralysis, and a host of other conditions), finding a comfortable yet functional seating system can be a daunting task. The seat must provide proper total-body support, access to learning and feeding materials, and safety features. Many seating systems are uncomfortable, prohibitively expensive, rapidly outgrown, or not available in the right size to fit every child.

Wenzelite Rehab, which was recently acquired by Drive Medical, specializes in manufacturing customizable rehabilitation equipment for both children and adults. Since the acquisition, the company has fully upgraded its unique line of products. Their new and improved Pediatric Tilt and Recline Seating System fully secures and supports the child for optimal positioning in all settings and features numerous innovative characteristics that sets it apart from other systems.

With AEDs, Everyone Has the Power to Save a Life

It  kills someone every two minutes in the United States. It strikes in offices, schools, shopping malls, hotels, airports, grocery stores; on the street, the basketball court, the track. It targets victims of all ages, races, sizes, and religions. It can be the stuff of nightmares – a loved one, friend, or perfect stranger clutches his or her chest and collapses without a pulse while others watch, horrified but helpless. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) accounts for a staggering 325,000 deaths in the United States every year – more than 75% of cardiac-related deaths are attributed to sudden cardiac arrest – with the vast majority occurring outside of a hospital. Unfortunately, less than 32% of victims receive help from bystanders, and less than 8% survive.

When family members, friends, passersby, or spectators witness someone collapse, stricken by sudden cardiac arrest – often due to an unrecognized, underlying heart condition – their first reaction is to call for emergency help. However, the first few minutes after the event, when the victim is mere moments from irreversible damage or death, are the most crucial. For these victims, salvation most often comes in the form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation, administered promptly and properly; rapid intervention can double or triple the chance of survival. When seconds can mean the difference between life and death, the availability of superior equipment can be literally lifesaving. Defibrillators have been responsible for the survival of teenaged athletes, professional runners, and children, men, and women of all ages, many of whom appeared perfectly healthy with no warning signs of what was to come.

Transfer Solutions Inc Creates Translock, a Revolutionary New Product to Help Prevent Transfer Related Falls

The Issue

According to the US Census, approximately 2.8 million people in the United States depend on wheelchairs for mobility assistance. The National Institute of Health reports that 37.9% of wheelchair users experienced a fall at least once in the previous 12 months, and almost half of those who fell suffered fall-related injuries. Studies have shown that adults aged 65 and older are hospitalized for fall-related injuries five times more often than other injuries, and that the average health care cost of a fall injury was $19,440 (not including physician services). Gerontologists have projected the total yearly cost of fall-related expenses to be over $54 billion by the year 2020. Patient transfer accidents can and frequently do result in embarrassment to the patient, psychological trauma to the patient and his family and/or caregivers, serious injuries ranging from concussions to broken bones to internal bleeding, potential caregiver injury, hospital stays, physical and occupational therapy, and prohibitive medical and legal costs. A small percentage of falls are fatal.