title: In-flight auscultation during medical air evacuation: comparison between traditional and amplified stethoscopes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of a traditional stethoscope versus an electronically amplified one (expected to reduce background and ambient noise) to assess heart and respiratory sounds during medical transport.
  
  
  METHODS
  It was a prospective, double-blinded, randomized performed study. One traditional stethoscope (Littmann Cardiology III; 3M, St Paul, MN) and 1 electronically amplified stethoscope (Littmann 3200, 3M) were used for our tests. Heart and lung auscultation during real medical evacuations aboard a medically configured Falcon 50 aircrafts were studied. The quality of auscultation was ranged using a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10 (0 corresponding to "I hear nothing" and 10 to "I hear perfectly"). Data collected were compared using a t-test for paired values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 40 comparative evaluations were performed. For cardiac auscultation, the value of the rating scale was 4.53 ± 1.91 and 7.18 ± 1.88 for the traditional and amplified stethoscope, respectively (paired t-test: P < .0001). For respiratory sounds, quality of auscultation was estimated at 3.1 ± 1.95 for a traditional stethoscope and 5.10 ± 2.13 for the amplified one (paired t-test: P < .0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that practitioners would be better helped in hearing cardiac and respiratory sounds with an electronically amplified stethoscope than with a traditional one during air medical transport in a medically configured Falcon 50 aircraft.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Service, Fire Brigade of Paris, Paris, France. Electronic address: fontaine-emma@hotmail.fr.
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fontaine
authors.affiliation: Villacoublay Air Base 107, Villacoublay, France.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coste
authors.affiliation: Villacoublay Air Base 107, Villacoublay, France.
authors.forename: Chrystelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poyat
authors.affiliation: Military School Val-de-Grace, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Service, Fire Brigade of Paris, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Hugues
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lefort
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Military Hospital Percy, Clamart Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leclerc
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Service, Fire Brigade of Paris, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dubourdieu
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Service, Fire Brigade of Paris, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Briche
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Service, Fire Brigade of Paris, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jost
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Service, Fire Brigade of Paris, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Maurin
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Service, Fire Brigade of Paris, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Domanski
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Service, Fire Brigade of Paris, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Tourtier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017732:Air Ambulances; D001314:Auscultation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019023:Stethoscopes; D055815:Young Adult