A2E

"RESULTS: There was less neurologic disability in the unimmobilized Malaysian patients" I once saw a study claiming that ICU patients who received more units of blood had higher mortality rates, and therefor concluded that you should avoid giving blood. However, it stands to reason that if a patient were receiving multiple units, his underlying disease was probably more severe to begin with, hence the higher mortality... Same here: I don't have access to the full article, but I would imagine that patients who were backboard-stabilized probably had more severe injuries (or at least mechanisms of injuries) than those who weren't. I also have no idea where the two university centers mentioned are in relation to each other, but perhaps patients with more severe injuries are transfered to the New Mexico one? Or perhaps the other one is in a setting with less likelihood of high-speed collisions, etc. In short, it seems like their study group and control group could, potentially, be very different from one another.

How would you compare the two? (STC vs. Master) which would you recommend? While I can't argue against the Master's quality for hearing, say, heart sounds in a quite environment, I've found in the past that some high-end models actually pick up more background-noise than the simple ones. It may just be me, but it seems like while the truck is running I can hear BP better with the simplest scope than with a high-end one.

My previous Littmann was recently stolen after 7 years of good use as a paramedic, so I guess it's time to get a new one. I'm now in med school, and everyone tells me to go with the Cardiology III, but I'm still a half-time active paramedic and pretty sure I'll never use the second diaphragm enough to justify carrying the thing around on calls... Never did with the one that was stolen, anyway. So I'm basically trying to decide between the STC and the Master Cardiology - they cost almost the same, seem to have the same acoustics, thus leaving only the shape of the head open to debate. So anyone have any experience with them in the field? (And guys, lets assume I've read this entire thread, so there's no reason to go back to the "I use a 10$ stethoscope and it's great" discussions)