How long do you think it took for the Stethoscope to be adopted by physicians?

Stethoscope Invented

1816 in Paris France

The stethoscope was invented in France by René Laennec at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris.

It consisted of a wooden tube and was monaural. His device was similar to the common ear trumpet, a historical form of hearing aid; indeed, his invention was almost indistinguishable in structure and function from the trumpet, which was commonly called a "microphone".

According to Dr. Eric Topol who was named #1 Most Influential Physician Executive in Healthcare, 2012  by Modern Healthcare it took two decades after its invention before it became a standard tool.

Topol argues in his book The Creative Destruction of Medicine how ‘a propitious convergence of a maturing Internet, ever-increasing bandwidth, near-ubiquitous connectivity, and remarkable miniature pocket computers in the form of mobile phones’ are taking physicians and patients where no one has gone before.” - Modern Healthcare

He says, modern medicine is designed for groups. The interactions of drugs, patients, and diseases are unpredictable—clinical trials are population based and do not account for personal idiosyncrasies, much less medical histories. 

In The Creative Destruction of Medicine, pioneering geneticist and cardiologist Eric Topol introduces a radical new approach—by bringing the era of big data to the clinic, laboratory, and hospital. With personal technology, doctors can see a full, continuously updated picture of each patient and treat each individually. Powerful new tools can sequence one’s genome to predict the effects of any drugs, and improved imaging and printing technology are beginning to enable us to print organs on demand. Topol offers a glimpse of the medicine of the future—one he is deeply involved in shaping. 

And as so many are now beginning to say - let patients help too!