March 2020 - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Surgical Serenity Jazz Playlist is Creating “Buzz”

As soon as I wrote that title, I thought “Hmmm…maybe people could misinterpret that “buzz” word. Of course what I’m talking about is that our Jazz playlists for surgery is getting lots of acclaim. A lady contacted me last night saying that she had begun to run a low-grade fever and was feeling puny and depressed about the Covid-19 virus. She decided to download one of the Serenity playlists and said that she couldn’t believe how soothing and comforting it was! I wish I had recorded the phone call because she mentioned several things like “better than Valium” and how the saxophone just carried her to a whole different place where everything was beautiful and healthy and optimistic. This was really exciting for me to hear because the Jazz Playlist is the only one that I specifically commissioned for Surgical Serenity since Jazz is not style that I play. Dozens have people have told me that they really do love it and that it is a “Go-To” when anxiety hits! To get a download of the playlist, go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/buyanapp.

Speaking to Drs about the power of rhythmic entrainment.

The instruments in this playlist are Piano, Saxophone, String Bass, and light drums with brushes. The musicians are all international Jazz professionals with 30+ years experience each. No wonder it turned out so well! But the real key to why all of playlists work so well is that ingredient of rhythmic entrainment. An article in “Science Direct” quotes these facts about rhythmic entrainment from:

•

Rhythmic entrainment represents an affect induction mechanism.
•: Rhythmic entrainment occurs on the perceptual, autonomic, motor, and social level.
•: The basal ganglia play a key role in the link of rhythmic entrainment and affect.
•: Rhythmic entrainment supposedly induces positive valence and social dispositions.

Abstract

One especially important feature of metrical music is that it contains periodicities that listeners’ bodily rhythms can adapt to. Recent psychological frameworks have introduced the notion of rhythmic entrainment, among other mechanisms, as an emotion induction principle. In this review paper, we discuss rhythmic entrainment as an affect induction mechanism by differentiating four levels of entrainment in humans—perceptual, autonomic physiological, motor, and social—all of which could contribute to a subjective feeling component. We review the theoretical and empirical literature on rhythmic entrainment to music that supports the existence of these different levels of entrainment by describing the phenomena and characterizing the associated underlying brain processes. The goal of this review is to present the theoretical implications and empirical findings about rhythmic entrainment as an important principle at the basis of affect induction via music, since it rests upon the temporal dimension of music, which is a specificity of music as an affective stimulus.

So, although I certainly didn’t invent or discover rhythmic entrainment, Surgical Serenity Solutions was the first company to apply these principles to the surgical experience! Get these playlists NOW at www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/buyanapp.

Please let me know your questions or comments!

By DrAlice|March 30, 2020|Anesthesia, Benefits of music during surgery, Jazz for Anxiety, Jazz for Pain Management, Jazz for Surgery, Surgery with Music Research|0 Comments

Surgery with Music Blog Series, Post #18: Doctors from Major Hospitals believe in Surgery with Music

Dr. David Friedman and Dr. Alice Cash

Many people want to know if doctors from major hospitals believe in surgery with music. And the answer is…yes they do! Why? Because not only are there literally hundreds of studies documenting the decreases in patient anxiety, pain perception and anesthesia/sedation requirements, but doctors have seen with their own eyes what happens when a patient is listening to soothing music through headphones during the procedure.

One of my proudest moments was when I received an invitation from Cleveland Clinic Florida in 2011 to speak to their weekly Grand Rounds for Surgeons and Anesthesiologists! I was honored to speak to a full house of surgeons and anesthesiologists and many, many of them had questions for me.

One of the biggest factors in my proprietary music is that component of rhythmic entrainment. Physicians want to understand this 300-hundred year old named phenomenon which is a principle in physics. Once they understand that this applies to the rhythms in the human body as well as other vibrating objects such as pendulums, and metronomes, it is easy to see that music with a slow, steady pulse can entrain the heartbeat and breathing. When a patient is waiting for surgery, they often have rapid heartbeat and breathing. The music, through headphones, stabilizes the heartbeat and breathing and in the process, the patient begins to stabilize and then require less anxiety medication, less anesthesia and less pain medication afterwards! It’s a win-win for everyone!

And yes, they are also in use at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN in their post-cardiac care unit! The nurses there say that patients love the pre-loaded headphones and the soothing piano music that they hear.

Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has been using one of our Cloud Kits for a couple of years now with surgical patients as well as endoscopies and endoscopies. Patients and doctors both report a calmer pre-surgery area as well as a calmer and quieter post-surgical recovery area. When Patients listen to our proprietary music all the way through their procedure, they typically recover faster and with fewer side-effects as a direct result of less medication throughout the process.

To download our five proprietary playlists, go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/buyanapp. To purchase my new book, “Having Surgery? Using Music to Decrease Anxiety and Pain Perception,” go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/SurgeryBook. Stay healthy!

By DrAlice|March 25, 2020|30-day blog series, Doctors believe in benefits of music and surgery|0 Comments

Surgery with Music: Bluetooth or Preloaded Headphones Post #19

These headphones can be paired with our streaming surgery playlists or be pre-loaded with one of our 5 playlists.

Hello friends! If you are scheduled for surgery, dental work, or any anxiety-provoking medical procedures, then you are like considering using our Bluetooth or pre-loaded headphones. My question to you is, which would you prefer?

Today, you have more choices than ever before. Let me tell you a little about the benefits of each.

Pre-loaded headphones:

These headphones have micro-SD card slot in the headphone ear cups that can be loaded with our Classical Blend playlist, the Jazz playlist, the New Age playlist, the Lullaby playlist, or the Memory Care playlist. These headphones also have Bluetooth capability, but when we load the SD card we recommend that you not use the Bluetooth function. The headphones that are preloaded will cost a little more.

Bluetooth headphones:

This will be a high-quality Bluetooth headphones, but instead of being pre-loaded with our rhythmic entrainment music, you will use Bluetooth to stream one of purchased playlists from your Smartphone. You need to be sure to let your doctor know that you plan to use therapeutic, rhythmic entrainment music during your procedure.Most physicians will be more than happy to allow you to bring music to your procedure than will calm and comfort you. Anxiety is one of the first things that hospitals give you medication for when you arrive for your procedure, but when your have the Surgical Serenity music and headphones, you will likely be as calm and relaxed as they want you to be.

Headphones for Children

For the toddler or young child who is feeling ill or preparing for surgery! An absolute delight!

And for the first time ever, we will have a children’s headset. I am particularly excited about this headset because it will come pre-loaded with our Lullaby playlist and be ideal for the child who is not feeling well, hospitalized, or just needs some quiet time to calm down. These adorable Kitty-Kat ear headphones will delight both parent and child. This playlist is pre-loaded with 23 classic lullabies and will repeat continuously until it’s turned off! I have a very limited number of these available but will ship you one of these if you’ll contact me here or go to www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/products/

I’ll probably be blogging a little more than usual as a result of staying home for “social distancing” so stay up to date on your choices for using music to deal with anxiety. As always, let me know your questions too!