September 2015 - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Must everything be sterilized for Surgery? No!

If you’ve been following Surgical Serenity Solutions for awhile, you know that our headphones are being used every day in hospitals around the world! But every now and then, somehow asks us how hospitals are able to “sterilize” them for surgery. I rely on what surgeons, anesthesiologists and surgical nurses have told me and here is what I’m told: during surgery, a “sterile field” is prepared, depending on what part of the body is being operated on.

Only things that are going into a patients body need to be sterile. Our Surgical Serenity headphones are behind the neck and over the ears. Each earpiece has a disposable sterile cover on it and these are replaces with each patient and connecting band is wiped down with antibacterial spray. Obviously, the headphones can’t be used with brain, head, neck or face surgery. Still, our proprietary music can be played nearby and the body will still entrain with the steady, soothing pulse!

For those that are concerned that the headphones are not “sterilized,” we are starting a new purchase model where we offer a less expensive model that doesn’t have as long a battery-playing time but is otherwise very similar to our current model in terms of style (behind-the-neck) and comfort, for a price that will allow hospitals to give EACH surgical patient their own headphones that they can take home with them and continue using as they recover at home with our soothing, steady, comforting music.

Stay tuned for the new model, hopefully appearing in time for Christmas!

By DrAlice|September 29, 2015|Benefits of cordless headphones, Benefits of music during surgery|0 Comments

New Hospital Program planned for Surgical Headphones

For the past 5 years we have been marketing our surgical headphones primarily to individuals who are preparing for surgery. After selling hundreds of these clinically and scientifically proven headphones with our proprietary music on them, we have decided to also have a different headphone that we will market to hospitals. The new headphones is intended to be given or issued to each surgical patient for them to keep and take home to continue using in their recovery.

We have put thousands of hours into this process and are excited to reveal that we are getting really close to having this new surgical headphone ready to provide to hospitals! With concerns about infection-control at an all-time high, many hospitals don’t want to re-use anything that they can make disposable. Although we wouldn’t call this new surgical headphone disposable, we do believe that the new price will allow hospitals to give all surgical patients their own surgical headphone and in addition, patients will have at least four different playlists to choose from.

When we went to the AORN conference in Denver in 2015, this nurse from Johns Hopkins hospital was extremely enthusiastic about our surgical headphones!

Of course we will keep selling our premium surgical headphone will 4 GB of memory and a battery life of 20-24 hours. We anticipate that dentists will buy these because they can more safely re-use them, as well as cosmetic surgery practices where price restrictions are not so intense. To order these, just go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com. We look forward to providing our proven surgical headphones to all patients preparing for surgery!

By DrAlice|September 14, 2015|Benefits of cordless headphones, Fear and Anxiety about Surgery, Fear of anesthesia, Fear of surgery, Headphones for other medical procedures, Music in the hospital, Research on Surgical Serenity Solutions, Surgical Headphones and HIPAA|0 Comments

Music for Surgery: Headphones or Ambient Music?

What do you think is the best method for delivering music during surgery? Many methods have been tried: speakers on the wall, boombox in the corner, headphones, ear buds and even live music in the OR. I actually used corded headphones connected to a Sony “Walkman” back in 1994 when I had back surgery and the surgeon and nursing staff felt I had an exceptionally fast recovery. I had the sense, even back then, that soothing music through headphones created a kind of “sonic cocoon” that was quite beneficial to the patient, not only delivering music directly to the brain, through the 8th cranial nerve, but also blocking out the sounds of surgery and the conversations that patients don’t need to hear.

For me, ear buds are definitely not a good option because they fall out so easily and don’t have the sound-blocking capabilities that headphones have. Speakers in the wall or nearby are even worse because the patient can still hear conversations and the music playing is likely the music that the surgeon has chosen because of its upbeat, energetic nature.

Live music? It seems like a great idea, but I question the practicality of that in surgery. Operating rooms are not very big and to have a musician in the midst of serious surgery brings up all kinds of questions. If all of those questions could be addressed successfully, I still don’t think that every patient who could benefit from music during their procedure would be able to have it easily.

Obviously, we believe that the pre-programmed, cordless headphones are by far the best choice. This music has been scientifically chosen for the slow, soothing, steady pulse that engages rhythmic entrainment and allows the patient to relax naturally and thus require less medication. Once the relaxation response is in place, the music coming through the headphones before, during and after the surgery, does the same job that anxiety medications, pain medications and anesthesia would do. Make sense? I’m happy to answer any and all questions you might have. Just contact me through this blog!

By DrAlice|September 1, 2015|Benefits of cordless headphones, Benefits of music during surgery, Characteristics of music for surgery|0 Comments