Story 1
I was part of a compliment of emergency vehicles that responded to a call for a motor vehicle collision with heavy entrapment. Upon arrival we found two vehicles in the roadway. The vehicle that I was assigned to landed on its roof and contained two passengers heavily entrapped - the driver and the driver’s wife who was asleep in the back seat. I noticed an opening on the passenger side of the vehicle where I was able to make entry and determine the severity of the occupant’s injuries. After performing a risk task assessment, I was able to deem the driver as a “trauma alert” and a rapid extrication was performed. En route to our level 1 trauma facility, several tests were done and I was able to determine that the patient had a pneumothorax that was increasingly getting worse. With the use of my 3M™ Littmann® Master Cardiology, I was able to clearly hear diminished lung sounds in the back of a speeding rescue vehicle. With sirens blaring I was able to perform a very critical life saving pleural decompression....All in all THANK GOD for Littmann. I was able to perform a life saving technique for the first time and meet with my patient two weeks later prior to the end of his Orlando vacation.

Story 2
A couple of shifts ago we responded to a call for difficulty breathing. On the scene, we found the patient sitting in a tripod position with symptomatic signs of respiratory collapse. A rapid assessment was performed and we determined that the patient had a respiratory rate of 9. My partner stated that he wasn’t able to determine the patient's breath sounds. Well, with the use of my 3M™ Littmann® Master Cardiology, my partner was able to ACCURATELY decipher the patient’s breath sounds and hear the fine crackles that were consistent with RALES. We learned that our patient had a history of congestive heart failure. When we were in the back of the rescue vehicle, we were able to place our patient onto our CPAP machine and expedite an immediate transport. At the local ER we were told by the attending physician that without our immediate recognition of the patient’s critical state, she might not have made it! So all in all with the accuracy of the 3M™ Littmann® Master Cardiology you cannot go wrong. Needless to say, we had another life saved!!!!

- Patrick Paillant, Firefighter

March 3M Littmann Stethoscope Winner:

I've had the opportunity to use literally dozens of different stethoscopes. Every so often a new gadget comes out that claims to be a vast improvement over the dependable, tried-and-true Littmann Master Cardiology. I've tried them all and none compare to its reliability and clinical accuracy. That was, however, until about two months ago.

The chest pain call came in just after I'd finished checking my equipment. We arrived and found a very sick man in his mid-sixties and we knew that he needed treatment right away. As my partner looked for an IV site, I realized that I had left my stethoscope behind. My partner handed me the new Littmann 3000. I was skeptical of using an electronic stethoscope, especially for the first time in a critical scenario. I turned it on and took a listen. I couldn't believe my ears! The quality of the sound was nothing short of amazing. His lung sounds were loud and clear -- even through his shirt! I could hear absolutely everything I wanted to hear, and almost no background noise whatsoever. We were able to quickly treat his CHF and his breathing improved dramatically.

- Matt Thomas

February 3M Littmann Stethoscope Winner:

I work as a New York City paramedic and use my 3M™ Littmann® stethoscope primarily at work. I always knew the quality was better when, from time to time, I had accidentally left my own stethoscope in the ambulance or in a patient's home and ended up having to use what was readily available or a partner's scope. My 3M Littmann stethoscope helped me in identifying and diagnosing life threatening conditions on a regular basis while at work. But the true appreciation came when it helped me in identifying the life threatening condition of my family member. 

My aunt called me one night to tell me how my grandmother couldn't breathe properly. I ran over to her house and in the chaos didn't bring my Littmann with me. (My grandmother bought me a Littmann 13 years ago when I became an E.M.T. I later bought a new Littmann when I entered school for paramedicine.) Thank God I kept the old Littmann stethoscope in my car as a spare, the one my grandma originally purchased, as I now had quality means to listen and discover that my grandmother has rales on her lungs and was in congestive heart failure. That night my old handy dandy 3M Littmann stethoscope helped save my grandmother's life.

- Rebecca Solomon, Brooklyn, NY