snobbish primitive seeking advice on medical equipment

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=381x409

This bonfire was lit in the deaf and hard of hearing forum on Skins's island, but no primitive showed up at it.

uppityperson  (1000+ posts)        Tue Mar-17-09 03:19 AM
Original message

Stethoscopes. Help.

I have the small in the ear canal aids, just returning to a job I need to be able to hear with a stethoscope. I did a quick search for then and came up with several but wondering if anyone has any experience?

I'd be happy to have one that I need to remove my aids for, if it were strong enough. Or I could use headphones. It doesn't have to look like a stethoscope, just work.

The snobbish primitive, the primitive who trusted the 9/11 hijackers more than she trusted George Bush, is a registered nurse up over there near Seattle.  On the threshhold between late middle age and old age, she and the husband live out in the woods, imagining they're living life like it used to be.

However, one suspects that in real life circa 150 years ago, Abe and Mary in their log cabin didn't have an electric log-splitter, but never mind.

The snobbish primitive used to do, and perhaps still does, medical billing out of her home, but then being greedy for more money--something the snobbish primitive oftentimes accuses insurance companies of being--she went back to work as a registered nurse.

Anyway.

I noticed that in more than half, maybe as much as two-thirds, of the time, when a physician is using a stethoscope on me, the two things that are supposed to be stuck into his ears are actually clamped behind the ears, on those spots where the bone is closest to the surface (i.e., where the skin is thinnest).

The way I myself "hear" sometimes.

The snobbish primitive is just being stupid.

[The Village Idiot]

wow Frank, I would have never known that.

Those XX commercials are wrong. YOU are the most interesting man in the world.

[dandi]

They make electronically amplified stethoscopes, but they're not cheap. They start at around $200.

[Chris_]

So uppity is a nurse? I wonder how she feels about the DUmp's desire to revert our health care system to third world status and pay our health care professionals peanuts?

Of course I can understand that one primitive that claims to be a nurse supporting the destruction of the health care system as she already only makes as much per hour as a McDonald's fry cook. I just can't remember her name.

[franksolich]

.....I can understand that one primitive that claims to be a nurse supporting the destruction of the health care system as she already only makes as much per hour as a McDonald's fry cook. I just can't remember her name.

You're thinking of the unappellated eohippus, the "Horse with no Name" primitive, the high priestess of Moloch to the primitives; the strident abortion enthusiast.

In 2007, the unappellated eohippus said that the medical insurance premiums she paid to cover herself and her family was $500 a month, or one-fourth of her monthly income.

Which comes to $24,000 per year.

For some time, the unappellated eohippus has alleged herself to be a registered nurse.

Registered nurses anywhere in the United States haven't made $24,000 a year for how long; I dunno, but surely it's been a generation and a half.

You probably don't remember the unappellated eohippus because during the Democrat primaries of 2008, she was a supporter of John Edwards, and for a time left Skin's island.  She came back, but isn't ever back to the extent she used to be.

[franksolich]

They make electronically amplified stethoscopes, but they're not cheap. They start at around $200.

You know, when I was a little lad, my younger brother used to enjoy authentic "doctor's kits," not those plastic things found in mail-order catalogues and discount stores.

I never paid much attention, but I suspect these were samples and hospital discards--we had everything from real stethoscopes to forceps and bandage scissors and syringes (plastic ones, with the needles purposely broken off; they made great squirt-guns).  (If used stuff, I reasonably assume they were sterilized before being given to us.)

We kept this equipment in shoe-boxes; in case anyone has forgotten, cardboard shoe-boxes used to have a handle on them.

At one time, I had a whole shoe-box full of nothing but foreceps, but I could never figure out what they were for.  By the time I grew older, it occurred to me that they would've made great clamps (like for when gluing things together), but by that time, I had no more foreceps.

The best were the bandage scissors.

The influence of such "toys" has been lasting; to me, there's hardly anything finer than good stainless steel, in either cookware or scissors.

[Karin]

I wonder why that is, that all Nurse's Aids and the like claim to any and all to be "registered nurses." 

[franksolich]

I wonder why that is, that all Nurse's Aids and the like claim to any and all to be "registered nurses."

You know, I do have some problems with this.

Remember, DUmmies lie.  All the time, DUmmies lie.

In the case of the snobbish primitive, based upon her comments on Skins's island the past few years, she does have some credibility as being a registered nurse, but I can say that with only 99% confidence, not 100% confidence.

The case of the unappellated eohippus, the "Horse with no Name" primitive, is rather less credible.  Sort of credible, but with considerable room for considerable doubt.

The unappellated eohippus makes her posts in a way strongly suggestive of a keyboardist, and so it's possible that's what she is, a keyboardist in a hospital or clinic, and not a real nurse.  Or.....she's a real nurse, but used to work in keyboarding before she became a nurse.

And.....one can see a keyboardist making "only" $24,000 a year.

By the way, the unappellated eohippus and the now-exiled burdened primitive, the "Tyler Durden" primitive, were, or are, the biggest liars on Skins's island; the lying tits primitive, the "TomInTib" primitive, was a rank amateur compared with those two.

The most intriguing one is the Rita Hayworth primitive, the tangerine Bambi primitive, the "Tambourine LaBamba" primitive, who's pretty old, who alleges to be both a nurse and an attorney.  There's perhaps only slight doubt that she's a real nurse, but I remain skeptical about this "attorney" allegation.

[dandi]

At one time, I had a whole shoe-box full of nothing but foreceps, but I could never figure out what they were for.  By the time I grew older, it occurred to me that they would've made great clamps (like for when gluing things together), but by that time, I had no more foreceps.

Those used to be quite popular among pot smokers, who used them as "roach clips" to hold the joint when it burned down thus avoiding scorching their fingers.

[diesel driver]

Those used to be quite popular among pot smokers, who used them as "roach clips" to hold the joint when it burned down thus avoiding scorching their fingers.

I still have a couple of the locking kind, left over from my motocross days.  They work great for clamping small wires, cables, holding small screws, removing stitches, or pulling stray nose hairs....

[AprilRazz]

You know, I do have some problems with this.

Remember, DUmmies lie.  All the time, DUmmies lie.

In the case of the snobbish primitive, based upon her comments on Skins's island the past few years, she does have some credibility as being a registered nurse, but I can say that with only 99% confidence, not 100% confidence.

The case of the unappellated eohippus, the "Horse with no Name" primitive, is rather less credible.  Sort of credible, but with considerable room for considerable doubt.

The unappellated eohippus makes her posts in a way strongly suggestive of a keyboardist, and so it's possible that's what she is, a keyboardist in a hospital or clinic, and not a real nurse.  Or.....she's a real nurse, but used to work in keyboarding before she became a nurse.

And.....one can see a keyboardist making "only" $24,000 a year.

By the way, the unappellated eohippus and the now-exiled burdened primitive, the "Tyler Durden" primitive, were, or are, the biggest liars on Skins's island; the lying tits primitive, the "TomInTib" primitive, was a rank amateur compared with those two.

The most intriguing one is the Rita Hayworth primitive, the tangerine Bambi primitive, the "Tambourine LaBamba" primitive, who's pretty old, who alleges to be both a nurse and an attorney.  There's perhaps only slight doubt that she's a real nurse, but I remain skeptical about this "attorney" allegation.

Around here RNs fresh out of school with an AA easily pull down about $37k a year.

[happy1ga]

I started losing my hearing at 32. I have had 2 surgeries, one on each ear. The left ear wasn't as successful as the right, so I now have about 60-70% hearing combined. I see a physician who is completely deaf, and he does put the stethoscope behind his ear, right over the main nerve. When using the phone on my left ear, I often slide it down there, and find I hear better. So, yes, there are steths that you can use when hearing impared. I am surprised a nurse wouldn't know this. I have a good friend who is a RN and a niece who just graduated last yr from nursing school. My friend only works p/t and makes more that 24K and my niece started at the hospital at 37,500. Is she a LPN or an aide instead? Seems more likely.

[NHSparky]

Around here RNs fresh out of school with an AA easily pull down about $37k a year.

I was gonna say, that's even probably pretty low.  I have a longtime friend who just graduated nursing school in Texas about two years ago and she's pulling down at least $27/hour and gets more work than God allows (she's been doing 12-hour shifts with one day off every 2-3 weeks).

[happy1ga]

You're right about the money, and the tons of hours you can work, if you want them. My friend only works contracts, she could have tons of hours, and my niece, she only works 3 1/2 days a week for the $37,500, but she is a newlywed and doesn't want to work more hours just yet. Most places I know about are begging for nurses, and a good many for doctors, and licensed pharmacists, also. Not to mention aides, and LPNs. This is one field where you could work 24/7, if you wanted. As our population ages, the demand has grown exponentially. Especially since the old farts refuse to die off, the way they wished they would. No worries, once we get ObamaCare, they'll be dropping like flies. On top of the free mass abortions, we will have a greener planet. Seriously, why would ANYONE not like this ultrafab plan?

[AprilRazz]

I was gonna say, that's even probably pretty low.  I have a longtime friend who just graduated nursing school in Texas about two years ago and she's pulling down at least $27/hour and gets more work than God allows (she's been doing 12-hour shifts with one day off every 2-3 weeks).

It varies from area to area. This is a large hospital system in the Hampton Roads Virginia area. The cost of living is pretty reasonable here and an RN that wants to work can make a comfortable living. This was done on $18 per hour with 40 hours a week.
When I graduate I can demand higher pay because I was a Corpsman for several years.

[franksolich]

Update from Dorothy, the snobbish primitive:

uppityperson  (1000+ posts)        Tue May-05-09 04:14 AM
Response to Reply #1
 
2. Here is the review:

The company was very fast shipping and the stethoscope arrived quickly. It is very interesting.

I looked at several places online, finding a couple sites for health care providers who are hard of hearing. Beyond the ADA stuff, which I'd not thought of, there were recommendations for a few different products.

Due to cost, I started with the $160 one, rather than and $400 one.

It is very interesting. The volume control is good for people with good hearing to those like mine, about 1/2 hearing, and the highest volume is too high for even me, which is VERY good.

It has a high/low tones switch, which makes a big difference listening to lungs or heart sounds. It's fun to switch back and forth, but the one is good for lungs (omg I can hear again) or the heart (lub dub lub dub lub dub).

It has 4 or 6 (it's late and I am tired) little round batteries in the head. The switch to turn on is a button in in the middle of the head. I can put it here or there and not pick up clothing noises until I push the button.

Cons: $160. Pushing the button means I push the stethoscope onto the body harder than I'd like. I can cradle the head in my hand, using part to hold it, part to push the button, but it would be nice to have an easier on/off switch. However, the only moving part is pushing the middle button down to connect the batteries, so there is less to break. This balances out the pushing down part for me.

Overall, it is very nice to be able to hear lung sounds again and I do like this. Next on my agenda is talking to the place I work, mentioning ADA and seeing if they would like to chip in some for this. Without having this stethoscope, I can not listen to lungs as they would like. I'll post back when I get an answer.

If anyone want to pm me, I'd be happy to talk via pm or email. As more of us age, as more of us work older, hearing will be an issue.

**** you, Dorothy; too tight to buy your own work equipment?

The snobbish primitive's giving the authentically disabled a bad name.