The Stethoscope in 19th-Century American Practice: Ideas, Rhetoric, and Eventual Adoption.

The Stethoscope in 19th-Century American Practice: Ideas, Rhetoric, and Eventual Adoption. Can Bull Med Hist. 2020 Mar 20;:e317022019 Authors: Reinhart RA Abstract The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by the French physician R.T.H. Laennec, who, after three years of clinical observations, published his treatise Mediate Auscultation in 1819. In his treatise, Laennec included details of his new method of using the stethoscope to provide physiological and pathological evaluation of patients. American physicians attended lectures and clinics at Paris hospitals and carried this information back to their respective medical schools and practices. This was accomplished by a relatively limited number of elite American physicians who were able to take advantage of travel abroad and whose practices were academically affiliated. However, it is a well-substantiated historical claim that the adoption of the stethoscope by most American physicians was slow. There are many reasons for slow adoption of the stethoscope in America, among which are lack of formal education, including bedside training in the stethoscope, complexity of interpretation of auscultatory information, hesitancy of the patient and physician to have an instrument placed between them, and lack of opportunities for continuing education for physicians after leaving medical school. As the nineteenth century progressed, scientific ideas and rhetoric related to auscultation and the ste...
Source: Medical History - Category: History of Medicine Authors: Tags: Can Bull Med Hist Source Type: research