*LA Family Physician V16#2 03 - LAFP

GUEST ARTICLEBy David T. Henry, M.D.,caq GeriatricsShreveport, LATheSTETHOSCOPEI picked it up from its gray box andheld it as if it might break right therein my hands. I was just one of over a100 tan coated freshmen medical studentsreceiving a black imitationleather bag, reflex hammer, pen lightand brand new stethoscope. Theywere gifts from a pharmaceutical company.We were about to the enter thesecond year and begin our training inphysical diagnosis and assessmentand the pharmaceutical company hadjust provided us with the first “toolsof-our-trade.”When I picked up thesmall black artificial leather bag andlooked inside I had the sense that thiswas the beginning of somethingimportant. Opening the rectangulargray box containing a gray stethoscopeI felt a chill. A moment to thisday not forgotten. Therein lay the“symbol.” The badge of our identitytelling all, that it’s owner was in possessionof secret knowledge. It was akey. A key that would unlock thedoor of knowledge and the door tothe exclusive club of physicians. Ipicked it up from its box and a chillran through me as I felt it’s heft andit’s flexibility. I placed it in my ears, atfirst uncomfortable because it wasthere backwards. I realized then that Ihad no clue how I was going to makethis new stethoscope yield it’s secretsto me. Yet I also knew that one day Iwould come to know it’s secrets. Iplaced it folded into the side pocketof my tan lab coat, stained from hoursand hours in the gross anatomy lab.This placement would be an actrepeated untold thousands of timesover the next nearly four decades forme. I turned and walking extra tallwith my bag and new stethoscopeand strode down the hall toward thelight of the Tulane Avenue entrance.Little did I know how that stethoscopewould change my life forever after.Medical students develop ritualswith stethoscopes. The location andplacement denotes one’s station orcaste in the academic society of medicalstudents, interns, residents andfaculty. Our tan lab coat with thestethoscope in the pocket generallydrew smiles from upper classmanwho knew the stethoscope intimately5