Since its invention in France in 1816, the stethoscope has become the most widely used medical device in the world. Initially however, not everyone embraced Dr. René Laennec’s new invention as a replacement to the direct "ear to chest" exam, including the founder of the American Heart Association, L. A. Connor (1866-1950), who always carried a silk handkerchief in his pocket to place on the chest wall of his patients for ear auscultation. Even as late as 1885, a notable professor of medicine was also quoted as saying, "He that hath ears to hear, let him use his ears and not a stethoscope."
Since then, Dr. Laennec's invention has become the cornerstone to patient physical exams. In a recently published article in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Volume 89, Issue 3 (March 2014), it was clearly noted that contamination of stethoscopes and a physicians' hands after a physical examination were nearly equally contaminated and from this article an imperative message to the medical community was established, "stethoscopes must be routinely cleaned after every single use."
Since 1972, numerous peer reviewed medical articles have supported that fact that 80-90% of all stethoscopes were contaminated with bacteria, including some of today's leading killers such as MRSA and other harmful bacteria. Other studies looking at compliance rates of stethoscope hygiene amongst healthcare providers have demonstrated extremely low rates of routine cleaning.
As healthcare professionals, we need to emphasize the importance of stethoscope hygiene and create healthcare policies that make this important infection control mechanism non-negotiable.