iLifesaver: Apple iPods help doctors dramatically improve stethoscope skills

“For an instrument that was invented in 1819, the stethoscope still provides physicians with a wealth of medical information—provided they feel comfortable using it. By listening for subtle changes in sounds produced in the chest, they can detect heart murmurs, valve problems, or various lung conditions long before symptoms emerge,” Christine Gorman reports for Time Magazine. “Trouble is, a growing number of younger doctors are losing that ability—if they ever had it—and so are ordering up more and more high-tech (and high-cost) diagnostic scans to learn more about their patients’ internal condition.”

“Dr. Michael Barrett of Temple University in Philadelphia thinks he has the solution. In a study published today in the American Journal of Medicine, Barrett concluded that medical students improved their stethoscope skills dramatically if they listened to certain digitally recorded soundtracks that mimic the distinctive vibrations produced by various valve problems and other cardiac conditions,” Gorman reports.

“It’s the kind of situation in which practice really does make perfect. Through trial and error, Barrett discovered that you have to listen to a recording about 500 times to reliably discriminate between the different sounds made by various heart problems. Barrett started giving his students CDs on which he had recreated the rhythm and nature of various kinds of heart murmurs. He used a mechanical simulator to produce the purest patterns (and to avoid disturbing a lot of patients). But when he asked some of the students whether they were listening to their CDs, they told him, as he recalls, ‘Gee, Dr. Barrett, no one listens to CDs anymore. We’ve uploaded everything onto our iPods.’ So after consulting with a computer-savvy nephew, Barrett turned his heart recordings into iPod-readable MP3 files. They worked even better than the CDs, he found; students could see the title of each ‘song’ they played,” Gorman reports.

Time offers a link at the end of the article where you can listen to an mp3 recording and Dr. Barrett’s explanation of mitral valve regurgitation here.

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