Why doctors use stethoscope?

Before diagnosing the nature of illness, every doctor should examine the patient thoroughly. In this Process a doctor needs the body temperature of a patient with a thermometer. Further he examines the eyes and the tongue. Often it is said that tongue is the index of stomach. Above all, in order to examine the condition of internal organs like lungs and heart intestines, whether they are functioning properly or not doctors use a device called ‘stethoscope’.

In order to examine the condition of the internal organs of the body of a patient the doctor need not to open the body. We keep a wrist watch close to our ear, to hear the ticking’s made by it in order to know whether the watch is running properly or not. The same principle is used in stethoscope to study the condition of internal organs of human body

The heart ticks ‘Lub’, ‘Dub’ all the time. A doctor can keep his ear on the chest of the patient and can hear those ‘ticking’s’. But it is uncomfortable with for the patient and the doctor. More over there are not loud and clear. A stethoscope can enable the doctor to hear the heart beats more clearly and loudly.

A stethoscope with have a sound box, it consists a thin diaphragm. A sound incident on this box vibrates the diaphragm which more through hollow rubber tubes of the stethoscope and enters into the doctor’s ears. When doctor keeps the round box of the stethoscope on the chest of a patient firmly, the sounds produced in the body of the patient (like heart beats) make the diaphragm to vibrate. But those sounds are low. In order to hear those sounds clearly and loudly, the doctor asks the patient to breathe deeply.

From the sounds heard through a stethoscope, a doctor can find whether the heart of the patient is beating (functioning) regularly or not. In this process the doctor now and then taps on the chest on back of the patient. Lungs of a person contain dry air. Sometimes little bit of water may enter into them and causes certain diseases. A doctor can find own by tapping whether the lungs of a person are clear or not by using the stethoscope. A trained doctor can only use a stethoscope effectively and can tell whether a person is Sick or normal.

Prof: Laxmi… Emani

Published date : 04 Feb 2013 07:34PM