 Welcome to Nursing School Explained and on this video on the different parts of a stethoscope. Now a stethoscope is a tool that we use a lot in the clinical setting and there are different parts and it's very important to know how to use it to first of all make it functional and also make it comfortable for you to use. So let's look over this. I have two different samples here. So this example here is a Lipman Classic II stethoscope and one of the most important parts in my opinion is the ear pieces. They need to be fitting into your ear canal and they need to be comfortable. Some stethoscopes come with hard ear pieces and they really hurt after a while and then they don't seal in the ear canal so sometimes it's hard to really focus on the patient because you can hear different background noises. So make sure that the ear pieces that you have or that it comes with are either exchangeable or that they are comfortable for you to use. And then keep in mind that the stethoscope ear pieces or the metal parts of it are always at an angle and they go in like this. So make sure that you use it correctly and then it's a good fit. It will completely seal your ear canal so you can just focus on your patient. Then we have the metal pieces right here which basically connect the ear pieces to the tubing. The tubing, the flexible tubing can be either dual or single tubing. I prefer the single tubing because dual tubing meaning that there's two tubes here, sometimes they rub against each other and you can pick up a lot of different noises or side noises that are not really helpful. And then the most important part is the bell and the diaphragm of the stethoscope. In this particular one it is reversible. So if you take a look right here there's an opening so you can see when the opening is there that this is the side that you are listening to. The bigger part of this is called the diaphragm and then the smaller diameter part is called the bell of the stethoscope. So mostly we use the diaphragm and this will be for the more low pitched sounds such as respiratory and bowel sounds. And then the bell is best used for vascular sounds as well as heart murmurs. So I'll keep that in mind so when you're using your stethoscope make sure that you pay attention to what are you listening to so that you use the best tool for whatever assessment you are trying to perform. Now because it's reversible sometimes in the clinical setting you might be a little bit nervous. Make sure that you test it so put your earpieces in and then gently tap it. Right now I can't hear it but if I because it's turned towards the bell but I'm tapping on the diaphragm so now I'm flipping it around and now I can hear the sound. So make sure that you check that. So these are the basic parts of a stethoscope. Then we have a different type of stethoscope which does not have the reversible headpiece right here so the diaphragm and the bell are both this one surface serves both as the diaphragm and the bell of the stethoscope. The difference is that when you have contact with the stethoscope against the skin you need to make sure first of all that the entire surface of the stethoscope is having contact with whatever part of the body you're listening to and only light pressure will give you low sound so that would be like the bell of the other stethoscope and if you press down a little bit harder it'll pick up more of the higher pitched sounds such as lung and bowel sounds. The other parts are the same again with the earpieces make sure that you're putting it in the correct way that you have a good seal in your ear canal and in this one you don't have to tap it because there's only one surface to listen to. Thanks so much for watching this video I hope this has helped you to review how to use a stethoscope correctly. Remember one of the most important parts is really to have the matching earpieces because otherwise it might hurt you and that's not comfortable for you. Thanks so much for watching please also check out the other videos that I have about stethoscopes and I'll see you soon right here on Nursing School Explained.