Have you ever gone to the doctor and they’ve used a stethoscope to listen to your chest and back? What exactly are they doing, and are they just moving the stethoscope around at random?
Auscultation is a term used to listen to the internal sounds of the body. It is an important part of the physical exam and can help diagnose patients. Let’s now go to Complete Anatomy for more information.
The four standard points of auscultation for the heart are:
- Aortic – on the patients right side of the sternum
- Pulmonary – on the left-hand side of the patients’s sternum
- Tricuspid – in the fourth intercostal space, along the lower-left border of the sternum
- Mitral – in the fifth intercostal space, along the mid-clavicular line
The points of auscultation are an important part of clinical skills for doctors or nurses.
Maybe using the mnemonic All Patients Trust Me will help you remember this in the future!
If you found this blog post useful, you might also enjoy learning about the valves of the heart.