How to start a Surgery with Music program in your hospital
Two surgeons preparing for surgery
Everyday I hear from surgeons, anesthesiologists and other O.R. personnel who have read the latest research about the benefits of soothing, therapeutic music for surgical patients and others. It’s an ancient concept, delivered by 21st century technology.
Unfortunately, many O.R.s are taking the easy, un-scientific way out and just streaming Spotify or Apple Family Sharing to the room.
Why is this the wrong approach?
Spotify and Apple Family Sharing are not therapeutic music
Scientifically: One of the primary components of therapeutic music for surgery is that it must engage rhythmic entrainment to pair the patient’s vital signs with the music. We have a proprietary method for doing this. Choosing something just because patient or surgeon “likes” it is not likely to incorporate rhythmic entrainment.
Musically: My research has shown, and my research reflects, that music that does not engage the intellect or emotions is best. We don’t want the patient to being thinking and anlayzing and probably reminiscing. Instead, we want the patient to relax.
We’ve done it for you, after years of research
Good news! We’ve already created this music for you!
Surgical Serenity Solutions offers five, hour-long playlists in five different genres so that patients can easily find one that has the style of music they prefer.
TECHNOLOGY: As you see in the photo to the left, we have 3 distinct methods for delivering our music. The pre-loaded headphones were the original method and allowed lightweight, cordless headphones to deliver the music to the patient, starting in pre-op and continuing through recovery room.
The pre-loaded MP3 players were next because we found that hospitals had limited storage space and headphones took up more space. Also, the MP3 playlists could be co- branded with the hospitals and and given to the patient to take home when patient is discharged from hospital! This has been a big hit, as you can see if you zoom in on photograph of MP3 player.
And finally, our music is available in streaming format so that the hospital can license our music for multiple areas of the hospital, surgery, labor and delivery, chemo, pain management and more! OR patients can download from the App stores any one of the playlists for only $9.99 and take their phone into surgery (which 99.9% of surgeons allow) and then use their own earbuds or headphones.
If YOUR hospital or clinic is ready to step into the cutting-edge use of music with their surgical patients, the time is NOW!
Contact us at www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/contact-us. I’ll get back to you immediately!
All of this changed when I was hired by the University of Louisville School of Medicine to do research into Music Medicine and the healing power of music. Within months I began getting invitations to speak to local medical and lay organizations and almost from the beginning, I LOVED it! (Yes, at first I was nervous because I thought I had to memorize a speech, but later I found out that I could speak from an outline and that literally changed everything!) I guess I’m a storyteller and when I think back to my earliest memories and experiences with music–from my father singing to me as a baby, being in the church nursery and singing songs, to hearing a piano for the first time and finally beginning lessons at age 8–the stories begin to flow!
NOW, in the era of podcasts I have been getting invitations from all kinds of interesting people to talk about how music helps in surgery and in other areas of the hospital. When I am interviewed by a podcaster I realize that I really don’t even need any notes because all of this information is stored in my brain. There is almost nothing I’d rather do than talk about the healing power of music and I’ve now done it around the world, including western Europe, South Korea, Hawaii, and Canada!
Most of the podcasters either send me a list of questions that they want me to answer or they ask me to send them a list of questions that I think would be interesting to their audience. I love their questions and eagerly answer them and then expand on them. All but one of these podcasts has been video and audio but one of them was audio only. I prefer having video too because I believe I get lots of information from people when I’m watching them talk, like body language and facial expressions. Maybe that’s because I am also now a psychotherapist and I do this every day.