Octopus stethoscope after Schnabel
The octopus stethoscope of Schnabel is a stethoscope - unique , which for clinical small group instruction in Reformstudiengang Medicine at the Charité was made according to the specifications of Kai Schnabel around 1999 and used in the training center for Medical Skills for teaching and demonstration purposes.
The possibility of being able to listen to a patient at the same time with a small group of seven students plus lecturer without bothering him with series of examinations proved to be an advantage . This also ensured that everyone could perceive the same tones and noise phenomena, typically those above the heart as well as above the lungs and abdomen. The sequential eavesdropping of the patients by the students with different stethoscopes and not always the same auscultation point was no longer necessary. However, the lower volume turned out to be a disadvantage. This disadvantage could not be fully compensated for by disconnecting unused parts of the device - metaphorically speaking, shutting down the extremities of the octopodiform - and thus keeping still of previously sound-conducting elements , even when used by less than eight people .