The accuracy of lung auscultation in the practice of physicians and medical students

Abstract

These results confirm that ambiguous identification and interpretation of sounds in auscultation is a generic issue which should not be neglected as it can potentially lead to inaccurate diagnosis and mistreatment. Our results lend further support to the already widespread acknowledgment of the need to standardize the nomenclature of auscultation sounds (according to European Respiratory Society, International Lung Sounds Association and American Thoracic Society). In particular, our findings point towards important educational challenges in both theory (nomenclature) and practice (training).