Heart beats

New Orleans, March 26 (Agencies): Listening at least 400 times to different heart sounds on an iPod is an effective way to improve a doctor’s ability to detect a problem, a study has showed.

For 90 minutes, 149 medical students listened 400 times to the five most frequent heart murmurs. The singe practice session improved the rate of detection by stethoscope to 80 per cent from 40 per cent among generalists. The study by Temple University cardiologist Michael Barrett was presented yesterday at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

The ability to detect heart anomalies is essential to finding a range of cardiac problems and can reduce the number of unnecessary tests like echocardiograms and stress tests, Barrett said.

Before testing out Barrett’s programme, another group of interns managed to identify only 40 per cent of murmurs correctly; afterwards, they got 80 per cent right.

“Usually, the first time you try to listen for a heart murmur you’re lucky if you hear a heartbeat at all,” says Jodi Washin Sky, a student. “But this has really helped me. I’ve found myself picking up a lot of murmurs in patients, now that I actually know what I’m listening for.”