The 50th anniversary of the launch of the first 3M Littmann stethoscope is being celebrated through a global programme of listening to the personal stories of medical professionals.

Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals throughout the UK and Ireland are invited to share their stories on a specially created landing page. Similar pages are also being hosted for professionals in the United States and a number of West Europe countries including Germany, Italy, France and Spain.

“For the past 50 years, we’ve heard countless unique, heartfelt and compelling stories of listening from around the globe and felt that this anniversary would be a great opportunity to collect and share these stories,” said Kristi Barnett, 3M Auscultation global business manager.

“By asking dedicated health professionals to share their stories, it’s our goal to bring attention to a key and generally unheralded part of the medical profession.

“What’s truly unique about the stethoscope is that it’s traditionally the first point of connection between the healthcare professional and their patients. To that end, medical professionals are incredibly passionate about the stethoscope they choose.”

Created by Dr David Littmann in the early 1960s, the Littmann brand was acquired by 3M in April 1967 and for the past 50 years has been a leader in the field of auscultation with product features including tuneable diaphragms, ambient noise reduction and Bluetooth connectivity.

This year has seen the launch of two new product introductions for the Littmann Cardiology IV™ stethoscope range – in mirror and champagne finishes – as well as five new colour combinations for the 3M Littmann Classic III™ stethoscope range.

Visit the 3M Littmann website