This post was authored by Kim Allan Williams Sr., MD, FACC, president of the ACC.

A recently published Washington Post article, “Heart doctors are listening for clues to the future of their stethoscopes,” highlights important issues in cardiology, claiming that the stethoscope “is having a crossroads moment.”

The stethoscope is certainly not dead. Recent digital technology has upgraded the functionality of stethoscopes.  They now allow volume accentuation and frequency selection, as well as digital file transfer for teaching on rounds, competence testing, or audio file archival for comparison with prior or future recordings.

Still basic auscultation skills – the ability to listen to and interpret sounds from the heart – are important skills for physicians to develop and maintain, even as new technologies provide complementary information. Learning to correctly interpret heart sounds reinforces the understanding of normal and abnormal physiology. The fact that doctors are failing to obtain and maintain this skill is something we should work to improve.

In the physical exam, the stethoscope provides important information to the physician, who ideally should gather all the facts available, including sounds coming from the patient's body, to arrive at the most precise conclusions about diagnosis and prognosis.

In addition, the stethoscope is a simple, immediate, and cost-effective tool that necessitates physical contact with a patient at a time when tight schedules and technology create barriers between doctor and patient.

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, MACC, editor in chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), weighs-in on reports of the death of the stethoscope in a JACC editor’s page article, titled “Stethoscope’s Prognosis:  Very Much Alive and Very Necessary.”

He notes that, “…echocardiography systems are not – and will never be – poised to totally eradicate the stethoscope, as it is not possible for every clinician to possess a handheld echocardiography within and outside the United States.” He adds that, “…we cannot discontinue the important training that takes place during physical exam, which can be aided through the amplified sounds of a stethoscope. … We cannot teach our medical students to become reliant upon advanced technologies without which they become useless.”

I couldn’t agree more. In fact, the College provides educational training tools from its Heart Songs 3 program to help health professionals improve their auscultation skills. Stay tuned for a new version, Heart Songs 4, which will launch at ACC.16 in Chicago.

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