Hello!
Today since morning I am in auscultation mood. Even in shower I was observing myself naked in the mirror imagining being stethed. My hand being the stethoscope.
Thank you fro sharing this. It really excites the imagination. I'd love to talk more about this to you - perhaps I'll IM you!
1. My GP stethes me at 3 places: Upper chest, near nipple and below breast. (I don't know exact terms) Once I was stethed near underarms when I was breathless. Recently my friend went to Dr for her breathing problem. She said her Dr stethed her way below breasts in supine position. Why the difference? Just curiosity. I am not taking medicine advice.
The 'standard' auscultation positions when listening to the heart are 4 -- aortic, pulmonic, tricuspid and mitral. These correspond to the heart's 4 valves. It's not that the valves are exactly at those locations - just that they can be *heard* best at these locations. You may want to look at this image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/156429787036793712/
But different doctors do it differently. Many doctors are in a hurry, so they may listen to fewer positions - or even not at all. 😢 Cardiologists tend to be more careful, putting more time into cardiac auscultation.
2. If we get pulse at ankle, neck, collar bone then why Dr just checks wrist. Only for ECG, feet are checked atleast for me
It depends why your doctor is doing it. If they're just evaluating your heart rate (how many times your heart beats per minute), it doesn't matter where they take it from. The wrist is usually their choice - although I've seen them do it on the neck, too. If they are assessing the *quality* of the pulses, they will do different things. They might take your pulse from *both* wrists at once, and they might also assess your pulse in your stomach (to the right of your belly button where the aorta runs through), in the inside of your upper thigh (femoral artery), behind your knees, or at your ankles. When they do that they examine the *quality* -- whether the pulse is too strong or too weak, for example.
An EKG is a totally different thing. It measures the electrical activity of the heart, and it helps the doctor diagnose or rule out a great number of things. There's lots of info about EKGs on the internet. Here's some information: https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/electrocardiogram-ekgs
3. Is there any difference between heart rate and pulse rate? I tried looking for an answer for this but still can't understand
No, heart rate and pulse rate are the same thing. Both terms refer to how many times your heart beats per minute, so the common measurement term is BPM (beats per minute).
Have a lovely day!