September 2022 - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Why music makes a difference in the perioperative period

Physicians in Korea standing with Dr. Cash

Speaking to Drs about the power of rhythmic entrainment.

Scientists are trained to be skeptical. And it’s a very good thing! When people’s lives are on the line, you want to be sure that everything you’re doing for the patient is maximizing their opportunities to survive and thrive. Using music during the perioperative period is one of those things that has proven to be very useful in decreasing anxiety and pain perception. And at the same time, to “DO NO HARM.”

One of the steps to becoming a physician is taking the ancient “Hippocratic Oath” and part of that oath requires that the physician promise to “primum non nocere” which means “first, do no harm.” I believe that one of the major benefits of using music during the surgical period is that music can never harm a patient. But far more than that, it can actually calm them prior to the beginning of the procedure, a time when Valium is often given routinely and without a thought of the fact that music could probably accomplish the very same thing but without the risk of side-effects.

What are common side-effects of Valium?

According to www.rxlist.com, common side-effects of Valium include:

drowsiness
tired feeling
dizziness
spinning sensation
fatigue
constipation
ataxia (loss of balance)
memory problems

And what are common patient reactions to serene, calming music?

lowered anxiety
feelings of peace
slow and steady heartbeat
deep and regular breathing
ability to forget current circumstances (temporarily)

The goal is education about the power of music

Through the past several hundred years, individual doctors and nurses have thought about using music during surgery and other medical procedures. I have read about doctors having live music in the operating room, but that’s not very practical and raises concerns about introducing all kinds of germs and bacteria into the operating room.

There are paintings from hundreds of years ago showing musicians attending a patient having surgery. This painting depicts “live Oud music during cardiac surgery.” and accompanies a medical study with the same name.

One of the basic premises in using music as medicine, whether for surgery or other medical procedures, is that the music must be pleasing, even if not familiar to the patient.

Every part of the world has its own music, its own music history, and its own musical instruments that have developed over thousands of years.

Offering the surgical patient a choice of music prior to surgery is very important and creates a sense of some choice and control for the patient. Most people go into surgery feeling very powerless and even out of control. Offering soothing music is a simple way to empower the patient and give them a sense of partnership.

Research on the use of music during the perioperative period

On my website you can find some of the most important recent studies on the use of music with different kinds of surgeries. Click here to see these studies and meta-analyses.

There have been very reputable studies done on music with cataract surgery, cancer surgeries, joint replacement surgeries, dental surgery and any medical procedures you can imagine. It’s really very exciting.

Surgical Serenity Solutions headphones But until 2009, there was not a single product on the market that could deliver the ideal music to the patient, during surgery, through cordless, pre-loaded headphones. In 2008, Surgical Serenity Solutions was awarded a U.S. Patent on the concept of having pre-loaded headphones for surgery patients for the specific purpose of reducing anxiety, pain perception and possibly the amount of medication required. In 2009 Surgical Serenity Solutions.started selling the headphones to patients.

Over the past 4-5 years we have shifted our focus from providing our headphones primarily to patients and instead, are now introducing them in larger quantities, to hospitals. Our dream is that most hospital systems will have the headphones waiting for the patients on the morning they arrive for surgery, or colonoscopies/endoscopies. Even labor and delivery suites, and ICUs are utilizing the many benefits of soothing music through headphones for patient who is anxious and fearful about their outcomes.

If YOUR hospital is interested in getting pre-loaded headphones in the OR, the ICU, the ER, or Labor and Delivery, click here to get prices and information on how they work. Each order of 12 or 20 headphones comes with 50 pair of disposable ear-piece covers and you can purchase more, as needed!

MP3 Player with Jazz Playlist and hospital branding And now, we have a new delivery device for our 5 therapeutic playlists! We are now offering small MP3 players that are already pre-loaded with the playlist of your choice. Hospitals can purchase these in bulk and GIVE them to patients after their procedure. To learn more click HERE.

Give your patients the patient experience they deserve and create a safer experience as well!

Music, Surgery, and Cancun

Cancun, a magical place I am back in Cancun and I have to say that for me, this is truly a magical place! Why? Well it is definitely beautiful with dozens of varieties of flowering trees and plants, and all kinds of swaying palm trees that just instantly put me in a state of calm and serenity.

But even more magical for me is the fact that this is where I first had the inspiration to preload headphones for the surgical patient with beautiful, soothing, serene and therapeutic music.

Here’s a little history on the birth of Surgical Serenity Solutions concept

In January of 2005 I attended a wonderful event sponsored by the National Speakers Association called “Cancun University.” The internet was just really beginning to be important in the speaking world and all of us were encouraged not only to have websites that showcased our businesses. Our professor also recommended that we create digital and downloadable products, such as e-books, and CDs/DVDs that vividly depicted us speaking and delivering valuable information with flair and pizazz!

When I first began reading about this event, I KNEW I had to attend and learn about internet marketing. Since I was a piano performance major in college, I really did not know much about marketing of any kind and certainly not about product innovation, but those were the two tracks that I decided to ‘major’ in at Cancun University!

What the professor said to get our creative juices flowing

The “professor” in the product innovation classes was a successful inventor who held dozens of U.S. and foreign patents and definitely knew the ropes. His name was Donald Booty and he was a gem! There were probably 50-60 speakers in that group and he encouraged us to think of something that would be a solution to a universal problem that affected us. He gave a great example of the man who had just invented the cardboard collars for hot coffee drinks at Starbucks and McDonalds, in the wake of the lawsuit in which a lady was badly burned by hot coffee in a drive-thru window.

Don said “that gentleman is probably and retired and on the beach somewhere by now!” That really appealed to me and I went back to my hotel room that night to start going through the work I had been doing with music and surgery at the University of Louisville School of Medicine for the previous 10-15 years.

Early precedents of the Surgical Serenity Headphones

I had actually been working on a way to deliver the ideal calming music to surgical patients for over a decade, but previously I was creating unique cassette tapes for individual patients in Louisville, KY and would spend hours with them discussing when they liked and what would work best for calming them. Needless to say, that was a wonderful but not terribly efficient process.

Then I had the idea to create a set of 8-10 CD’s that would cover a variety of genres, but all have the ability to calm the patient. My idea was to have one of the big hospitals in Louisville sponsor this project and then license the Music for Surgery CD’s to hospitals around the world.

But right before I was about to embark on this, I had the opportunity to go to Cancun University.

Following through on the first assignment

After our first day in class, when we had been tasked with finding a simple solution to a universal problem, I went back to my hotel room and “poof!” I thought “What about creating individual headphones that would already be programmed with the ideal, soothing music for patients about to go into surgery?”

The next day, the professor was very excited to hear this idea and said that the next task would be to do a “patent search” and see if anyone had already beat me to that idea.

I did this and was thrilled to find that no one had ever done this or even tried to do this. I was told that I would need to get a preliminary patent on the idea and of course, all of this would cost money. Nevertheless, I set to work on this idea and by September of 2005 I had the preliminary patent.

Getting the final patent

Between September 2005 and October of 2008, I was working with engineers, a couple of different patent attorneys and lawyers, and doing lots of research myself into all of the studies that had been conducted on the use of music with different kinds of surgeries. I found that literally hundreds of studies had been done on the use on music with patients before, during, and after surgery, but no one had thought of using headphones for the patients. Most hospitals were simply using music through overhead speakers that both the doctor and patient were supposed to benefit from.

Dr Cash in Cancun

One of the first things I pointed out when I started marketing my headphones was the fact the doctors and patients needed almost the opposite kinds of music for the best result. Surgeons seem to choose music that is upbeat and keeps their energy upbeat and consistent. Patients need music that is slower and calming and steady. The genre actually doesn’t matter and music can be found in all genres that fits this description.

Where do I find this amazing product? It’s actually quite a simple process! Just go to https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/20-pre-loaded-headphones-for-hospitals/ and you can get a box of twenty headphones with 50 pair of disposable earpiece covers for a great price!

Hope your hospital will be ordering soon!