What is auscultation?

To auscultate means to listen, auscultation is the act of
listening to body sounds with a stethoscope. The health care provider can and should
auscultate many things. Heart tones or sounds can be auscultated, the examiner is
listening for clicks, rubs, extra sounds, or missed beats. Cardiac murmurs can be heard
if present. Lung or breath sounds can be auscultated, listening for rales, rhonchi. or
wheezing. The carotid arteries can be auscultated listening for bruits. Bowel sounds can
also be auscultated listening for any abnormal sound.

Keep
in mind that auscultation is a skill and an art that is only learned by the novice after
months and months of practice. You have to train your ears to pick up on normal and
abnormal sounds. Some heart murmurs are very difficult to hear. It takes most people
years of practice to correctly identify the various types of heart
murmurs.

Don't get discouraged, be patient and continue to
practice.