What Kind Of Stethoscope Bell Covers Should You Use?

I know plenty of people in the medical profession that use antimicrobial stethoscope bell covers on a regular basis. These are an excellent way for you to contain any kind of virus or bacteria and keep from spreading it around to your other patients who may be coming in after those who are carriers. There are a number of different types of stethoscope bell covers that are available and some of them may be a little bit more convenient than others.

Here is how you should choose these covers, and whether the antimicrobial stethoscope bell covers is the better option.

Perhaps one of the larger concerns that I have heard about when you are talking about these disposable covers is whether they are going to affect the hearing that you have when using the bell end stethoscope. Not only are the higher quality stethoscope bell covers going to transmit the sound properly, many people have actually reported the fact that they are able to hear more subtle sounds whenever using the bell cover. It may actually have a dual purpose of not only keeping things clean, but making it more convenient.

Using Antimicrobial Stethoscopes

  • Antimicrobial stethoscope bell covers are primarily used in medical settings where you're going to be seeing multiple people and have no idea where they will be coming from.

  • Many doctors who run their own practice are not going to be too concerned over this, and they will simply disinfect the stethoscope after every use.

  • If you are a nurse in a busy emergency room, however, one of these bell covers is going to be ideal, because you have no idea who is going to be entering into your area next.

  • Not only is it a good idea for the other patients that you are treating, it is also a good idea for you, as you would not want to have the MRSA virus hanging out on your stethoscope close to your skin.

What might come as a surprise to you is that these accessories are available on the Internet at a fairly cheap price. There is absolutely no reason why somebody should not be using one of these bell covers, although not everybody is going to like the look of having one on their stethoscope. If you do decide not to use one of these covers, keep a latex glove handy to cover over your stethoscope, should you need to use it on somebody that you are uncomfortable with.

Purchasing These Covers

You can purchase antimicrobial stethoscope bell covers through many medical companies, along with on a number of different websites. There may be times, however, when you can discuss this with the facility where you are working and have them keep a stock of stethoscope bell covers on hand as well. Since these items are relatively inexpensive and you can simply throw them away after they had outlived their effectiveness of a few weeks, it is not generally more difficult to keep them on hand than it is regular latex gloves. Point this out to your supervisors, when asking them to keep them in stock.