The Evolving Stethoscope: Insights Derived from Studying Phonocardiography in Trainees

Phonocardiography (PCG) is used as an adjunct to teach cardiac auscultation and is now a function of PCG-capable stethoscopes (PCS). To evaluate the efficacy of PCG and PCS, the authors investigated the impact of providing PCG data and PCSs on how frequently murmurs, rubs, and gallops (MRGs) were correctly identified by third-year medical students. Following their internal medicine rotation, third-year medical students from the Georgetown University School of Medicine completed a standardized auscultation assessment. Sound files of 10 different MRGs with a corresponding clinical vignette and physical exam location were provided with and without PCG (with interchangeable question stems) as 10 paired questions (20 total questions). Some (32) students also received a PCS to use during their rotation. Discrimination/difficulty indexes, comparative chi-squared, and McNemar test