In infection centers treating patients exposed to Ebola, even a simple tool like a stethoscope can cause difficulties in treating patients, largely since the stethoscope can be a means of transmitting infections from patient to provider.
To combat this obstacle, hospitals in the U.S. are developing strategies to treat patients without exposing caregivers.
Bellevue Hospital Center in New York and the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha are using electronic stethoscopes, according to the New York Times. Thinklabs, based in Centennial, Colo., developed an electronic stethoscope in 2003 and offers it for $500. A wire plugs in to the side of the stethoscope bell and transmits the heartbeat to a microphone.
Other challenges related to treating Ebola-exposed patients include getting an accurate blood pressure reading, as a stethoscope is required to take a more accurate reading during blood pressure monitoring. The digital monitors are damaged in the sanitizing chlorine spray. Doctors would normally use a stethoscope to confirm symptoms in Ebola patients, such as bowel trouble and accelerated heart rate, which leads to hyperventilation, but without stethoscopes often go by the symptoms they see, according to the New York Times.
The electronic stethoscope cannot withstand the chlorine spray either, but the surface can be wiped clean with alcohol or bleach pads or covered with a thin material between patients.