Dan Keller's Nursing, Health Policy & Healthcare Technology Blog

May 11, 2010 -- Who is reluctant to try something new? It's not whom you'd think. Is it the oldsters, set in their ways? Guess again!

I recently called ThinkLabs with a technical question about my new digital stethoscope. The phone was answered by Clive Smith, the inventor of the device and CEO of the company.

We proceeded to have an animated discussion about his product and its users. They're not whom you might have guessed: younger, more experimentative healthcare practitioners. On the contrary, said Mr. Smith, it's the older ones who are willing to try something new.

Stethoscopes are a powerful cultural icon. Wearing one around your neck is a kind of badge of honor. Its appearance is determined more by tradition than by function. Like Leo Fender's cutaway electric guitar body from whose shape few have dared deviate in 50 years, stethoscopes must appear just so.

I can confirm Mr. Smith's statement. My nursing school classmates all wear Littmanns. They wouldn't dare try something slightly non-conformist even if it worked much, much better. Indeed, none of my classmates have even asked to try mine. Yet the ThinkLabs is much, much better.

Imagine this: a volume control! You have an obese patient and you can hardly hear anything through that flesh? Turn it up! What a concept!

By the way, Nurse Jackie wears a ThinkLabs.

This sounds like a commercial but really what I'm describing is the freedom of being an old-timer. The youngsters don't feel free to experiment. They are afraid to look different. Mr. Smith faces a challenging obstacle.

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