A system for monitoring cleaning efforts of care givers using stethoscopes including one or more stations capable of cleaning a head portion of a stethoscope presented thereto. The system includes an identification apparatus operably associated with each of a plurality of stethoscopes. The identification apparatus serves to identify a particular stethoscope and, thus, a particular care provider. A mechanism for detecting and signaling each time a particular stethoscope comes within predetermined radius of a cleaning station forms part of the system. Another mechanism for detecting and signaling each time a particular stethoscope is presented to a station to have a cleaning event performed thereon also forms part of the system. An analysis unit is operably connected to each detecting mechanism and is configured for calculating the cleanliness level of each stethoscope. A method for monitoring cleaning efforts of care providers using stethoscopes is also disclosed.
