The WiZmed Stethoscope: Why We Made Our Own, and What a Cardiologist Said About It
We started as students who could not always afford the stethoscope we wanted. So we designed one. Here is what is in the WiZmed Stethoscope, who it is for, what the Head of Cardiology at UCT heard when he used it on his patients for a term, and how the six-piece Combo works for a first clinical year.
Short answer: the WiZmed Stethoscope is a dual-head, stainless-steel, tunable-diaphragm stethoscope with a five-year warranty, designed in South Africa and sold by us for a good deal less than the mid-range. It is built for a first clinical year, for nurses and paramedics who need a dependable scope every shift, and for anyone who wants a second one for the car or the clinic bag. The Head of Cardiology at UCT used one on his own patients for a term and recorded what he heard. Below is the whole story, including where it fits next to the brands we distribute.
Why we made our own
WiZmed started in 2020 as a student-run company at UCT, and the problem we were solving was our own: the equipment list for clinical years is long, and the stethoscope is the expensive line on it. Every year we watched classmates arrive on the ward with a pharmacy single-head scope because the alternative was not buying one at all. A single-head scope will give you a blood pressure reading. It will not give you a soft murmur, a crackle at the base, or the confidence to say what you heard in an OSCE.
We are an authorised distributor for the brands most people think of first, and we still recommend them; the Littmann Classic III remains what most of our student customers choose, and nothing here changes that. But there is a year, for a lot of students, when that is not possible. We wanted something we were prepared to put our own name on for that year: real acoustics, a real warranty, and a price that does not decide the purchase for you.
What it is
- Dual-head chestpiece, CNC-machined from stainless steel, with a non-chill rim. The adult diaphragm covers general assessment; the smaller side is for focused auscultation and small patients.
- Adjustable-frequency diaphragm. Light pressure brings up low-frequency sounds; firm pressure emphasises the high ones. One chestpiece, both ends of the range.
- Single-lumen, latex-free tubing that coils into a coat pocket and holds its shape.
- Anatomically angled headset in a lightweight alloy, with soft-sealing snap-fit eartips. About 150 g, about 71 cm.
- In the box: the stethoscope, a spare diaphragm and spare eartips.
- Five-year warranty against manufacturing defects, handled from our Cape Town office. Replacement tubing, binaurals and eartips are stocked, so a worn part never means a new instrument.
- Engraving on the chestpiece, in-house, for R250, usually on the day you order.
See it, with current pricing, on the product page, or browse the whole WiZmed range.
What a cardiologist heard
We did not want to be the ones telling you it sounds good. So we gave one to Prof Mpiko Ntsekhe, Head and Chair of the Division of Cardiology at UCT and Head of the Cardiac Clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital, and asked him to use it on his patients and tell us honestly what he thought. He used it from December through the January clinics and recorded his answer.
“When I was using my previous stethoscope, all I could hear was S1, S2, no murmurs. I got this stethoscope in December and I liked it so much that as soon as clinics opened in January, up until now, I’ve been using it on all my patients. You can hear my high pitch, low pitch, murmurs, S3. It is very, very comfortable. The pressure on the ears is just about right, so it fits nice and snugly.”
Prof Mpiko Ntsekhe, Head of Cardiology, UCT and Groote Schuur Hospital
It has also been through a real paediatric OSCE at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, where a student using it picked up a 4/6 systolic murmur that led to a diagnosis of infective endocarditis. That video is on the product page too.
Who it is for
First clinical year. Medical, nursing, physiotherapy and paramedic students walking onto a ward for the first time, who need one instrument that does heart sounds, breath sounds and blood pressure and will last through the degree.
Every shift. Nurses and paramedics who wear a stethoscope all day and want something light, comfortable and replaceable in parts rather than as a whole.
The second scope. Clinicians who already own a cardiology-grade instrument and want a dependable one for the car, the clinic bag or the locum.
The WiZmed Combo: six tools, one box
The other five things a first clinical year asks for are small, cheap individually, and easy to forget until the morning you need them. The WiZmed Combo puts them in the box with the stethoscope:
- The WiZmed Stethoscope
- An aneroid sphygmomanometer (the WiZmed Sphygmomanometer)
- A tourniquet
- A patella hammer
- A measuring tape
- A pupil torch with gauge
Every item is the same product we sell on its own; nothing in the box is a lesser version. The Combo costs a little more than the stethoscope alone and a good deal less than the six bought separately, ships the same way, and the stethoscope in it can be engraved.
Where it fits in the range
We sell stethoscopes from several manufacturers and we are honest about where each one sits. If your budget stretches to the mid-range, our guide to choosing a stethoscope still stands, and the Classic III is still the one most of our students walk out with. The WiZmed Stethoscope is for the year when it does not stretch: the instrument we would have bought as students, at a price that leaves room for the rest of the list.
Delivery, engraving and warranty
Orders ship from Cape Town to anywhere in South Africa, and delivery is free on orders over R3,000. Engraving is R250, done in-house, usually the same day, and the stethoscope is dispatched straight after. The five-year warranty is handled by us, in Cape Town, and spares are on the shelf. If you are not sure it is the right one for you, ask us; we use these things on the ward too.
