Chest auscultation; easy to learn hard to say: Learning auscultation through multimedia

Abstract

Teaching physical assessment in clinical science courses is a challenge under most circumstances. Access to suitable patients is not always possible in the time frames available. Evidence suggests that chest auscultation, while considered important, is not being learnt as part of the pre-service training of nurses and medical practitioners. Rather it is being left to on the job acquisition in an ad hoc manner. This paper discusses the implementation of one approach to meeting the challenges of teaching chest auscultation in such an environment. The Physical Assessment: Practical Chest Auscultation CD-ROM (Kerr 2001) is based on andragogy, enhancing motivation and flexibility in skills acquisition. Authentic heart and lung sounds are used to make a seemingly formidable challenge, easy.