Improve your stethoscope skills with an iPod

When the doc puts that icy cold stethoscope against your skin, s/he is listening for subtle nuances of sound that can allow him/her to diagnose all sorts of trouble, even before symptoms begin to present themselves. It's the type of skill that is developed and perfected through much, much practice.

Dr. Michael Barrett of Philadelphia's Temple University believes he can help young, more inexperienced physicians develop these skills quickly. In a controlled study, he provided an audio recording of different heart sounds and gave it to a group of medical students. The students promptly transferred the audio to their iPods, and after a trial period of 3,000 playbacks, their ability to identify specific heart sounds jumped from 30% accuracy to 80%.

The moral of the story? Buy your doctor an iPod.

[Via MacBytes]
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