Running Head: THE FUTURE STETHOSCOPE
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Exploravision Competition: The Advancement of Stethoscopes
Samuel A. Bell, Kelsey M. Guenther, Ana M. Nunes, and Kelsey L. Stimpfl
West Career and Technical Academy
Author Note
Samuel A. Bell, Kelsey M. Guenther, Ana M. Nunes, and Kelsey L. Stimpfl, Biomedical
Sciences Program, West Career and Technical Academy
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ana M. Nunes,
Biomedical Sciences Program, West Career and Technical Academy, 11945 W. Charleston
Blvd., Las Vegas, NV, 89135. Email: anan214@westcta.ccsd.net.
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Abstract
What is the future of the stethoscope? The purpose of this project is to analyze how the
stethoscope will advance in the future. Stethoscopes are a major instrument used by doctors and
nurses with every visit. Little advancements have been made to these devices and they have been
used since the 19th century. Efficiency is essential for the doctor’s offices to try and see as many
patients as possible. The future device, the All-in-One, will include the ability to check heart
rate, blood pressure, and temperature. This will allow for doctors to become more accurate when
analyzing patient’s health at a faster pace. Breakthroughs for the health technology are occurring
in today’s society. Wireless technology is becoming a major part of these devices. It is only a
matter of time before the stethoscope becomes wireless as well. By connecting a bluetooth heart
rate monitor to headsets, doctors will be able to give space to their patients, while accurately
listening to the heart beats. The developments with stethoscopes are getting close to the predicted
All-in-One. With all advancements come consequences. The All-in-One could crash because of
computer malfunctions or die due to lack of a charge. Also, the connection between the bluetooth
could be obstructed.
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Present Technology
Today stethoscopes are being used in the hospital setting for basic reasons such as
listening to the lungs and checking pulse. Overtime they are progressively upgrading, the basic
structure has remained the same. There are separate tools that can be used to take different vitals
that will show up on one screen. The stethoscope has remained separate with only hearing the
heart in lungs and heart in mind. There is one technology breakthrough that is a wireless
“stethoscope” that has pads that conduct the beats per minute but doesn’t conduct any more data.
This is what was the basis for the All-in-One because it had the separate stick ones that
conducted the data and a wireless monitor that would interpret and save it. The All-in-One is an
expansion of this device. This device doesn’t have a name and is only just starting to make its
way out into the medical world after various types of prototypes that have failed. The
stethoscope is just now starting to evolve into a more modern model.
History
In the pre-stethoscope era examination of the heart was done by percussion and palpation
of the chest, but little useful information was obtained. Only occasionally did a physician see fit
to place his/her ear directly on the chest and practically never elsewhere on the body. The
stethoscope was invented in 1816 when a young French physician named Rene Theophile
Hyacinthe Laennec was examining a young female patient. Laennec was embarrassed to place
his ear to her chest (Immediate Auscultation), which was the method of auscultation used by
physicians at that time. He remembered a trick he learned as a child that sound travels through
solids and thus he rolled up 24 sheets of paper, placed one end to his ear and the other end to the
woman's chest. He was delighted to discover that the sounds were not only conveyed through the
paper cone, but they were also loud and clear. The first recorded manuscript documenting
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auscultation using the stethoscope. Original version of the Laennec stethoscope transformed to a
dense, finely grained, light colored wood, circa 1819. This cylindrical stethoscope is made with
three parts fitting together by wood screw thread and brass tube fitting with an overall length of
12.6 inches and a diameter of 1.5 inches. Both ends are slightly concave. The desired function of
the stethoscope was to make an easier and more accurate way to measure heart rate (University
of Utah, 2014). Doctors thought the old techniques weren't accurate and far too personal for a
businessman, even a doctor, to do.
Future Technology
For the All-in-one to successfully be created there needs to be certain aspects and devices
that have to change and/or improve. Specifically, in order to have the connection that this
product would require, advancements must be made to wireless connectivity. Thus, a tablet must
be created that can efficiently connect the components of the All-in-one. This tablet will include
devices such as the monitors for data collection and wristband. This device would be similar to
the tablets used today, but advancements need to be made. The armband and headband will
contain an electronic chip which will monitor the temperature. They will wirelessly connect to
the tablet which the doctor can use to analyze the health of the patient. There will be multiple
chips which will be connected to the patient. Each chip will analyze different aspects, including
the heart rate and pressure. Overall, this device requires an abundant amount of advancements to
be made.
Breakthroughs
There are many current breakthroughs with creating wireless medical technology. There
are different conventions like the BIOdevice conference in California that discusses the current
wireless technology. Medical devices that now have wireless technology include cochlear
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implants, insulin, cardiac pacemakers, gastric stimulators, and deep brain neurostimulators. They
are using this technology to make it easier for patients with diabetes or heart issues to check their
glucose and maintain stable insulin balances. In order for the All-in-One to work, it would need
wireless and Bluetooth technology which have already been created. It would also need sensors
which would be able to conduct data while sending the data to the monitor. The monitor would
be similar to a tablet which is already on market. An application to conduct data would need to
be created to collect and transfer data to a computer. This could easily be made, as new apps are
made daily. Something like the All-in-One doesn’t exist today because the system that is used
today works well enough. This product would be beneficial if doctors or hospitals would want to
speed up the time it would take to see a patient.
Design Process
For the design process there were numerous technologies that were of consideration. We
had several ideas of different health technologies and their advancements. One of our ideas
consisted of a 3D organ printer. We were considering this topic because of how popular 3D
printing is currently. We were researching this topic and found that it would have been too
complicated to describe and make a model out of. We also thought that it is currently being done
and we could take what was being done and predict what could happen in twenty years. This idea
was soon discarded. Another idea was a ring that took blood sugar. After considering how much
of a problem it is for diabetics to take blood sugar we wanted to make a painless, stylish ring that
would multitask. The ring would essentially collect the blood sugar and alert an app on your
phone that would tell you if your blood sugar was too high or too low. This would be extremely
helpful because of the quick means one could do to level off the blood sugar. We had problems
trying to come up with a way that the ring would collect the blood sugar data and after forty
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minutes of brainstorming we could not come up with an idea that was probable so this idea was
discarded. A current issue was prosthetics and their owners being unable to feel. We thought we
could come up with a way to allow the owner to get certain feelings that were general enough for
example picking up a phone or remote. This would allow the owner to feel what was happening
and control those movements. Upon research this was already in the making and did not want to
copy. That is what lead us to our current topic of the stethoscope. We were told to think simple
and expand on that, which is what ended up happening. Doctors everywhere use a stethoscope
and other machines to collect vitals. This is basic knowledge and we thought if we could speed
up the process at the doctors, it would make everyone happy. This idea was aimed toward
helping hospital nurses and doctors.
Consequences
All technology comes with flaws such as insufficiency, unreliability, faults, etc., so like
all other technology, the All-in-One product comes with its own consequences. Computers often
have malfunctions, which can cause the computer itself to crash, resulting in a loss of data that
could be considered important. Due to the All-in-One being wireless and having Bluetooth
capabilities, the data has the capability to be obstructed. While the doctor is consulting a patient,
they would be unable to physically touch them while the data is being conducted. Along with
conducting information, in order for the All-in-One to be fully functional, it would need to have
a charge. If this device isn’t charged, the device has the risk of dying in the middle of important
data collection. Although our device only has a minimal amount of flaws, these flaws can
ultimately cause major issues. Most technological devices throughout history have had their own
flaws and have successfully worked. We plan to fix flaws as the product evolves.
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