Anesthesia Archives - Page 8 of 9 - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Music as Anesthesia Study Done at Yale: results are postive!

According to a new study, listening to music when you go under the surgical knife can significantly reduce your need for sedation. Anesthesiologists at the Yale School of Medicine ran a study that included 90 patients undergoing “urological procedures with spinal anesthesia and patient-controlled IV propofol sadation.” From a press release about the paper, published in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia:

The subjects wore headphones and were randomly assigned to hear music they liked, white noise or to wear no headphones and be exposed to operating room noise. Dropping a surgical instrument into a bowl in the operating room can produce noise levels of up to 80 decibels, which is considered very loud to uncomfortably loud.

What they found is that blocking the sounds of the operating room with white noise did not decrease sedative requirements of listening to operating room sounds. Playing music did reduce the need for sedatives during surgery.

Dr. Alice Cash has created wireless/cordless headphones for surgery that are pre-programmed by a clinical musicologist (herself) with the most ideal music for surgery. This happens to be classical music and since the patient is asleep (under general anesthesia) it is more important to have the right tempo of music and the right mood music, than to let the patient choose what they’d like to hear…if they could hear it! To read more about these headphones, click here.

Dr. Cash also has a download of this ideal music availalbe here. You can download the music onto your own iPod or MP3 device and take it into surgery with you.

The wireless headphones are already in use at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota as well as the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. If you, or someone you love, is having surgery in the near future, please check out these options. It could just save your life!

By DrAlice|September 12, 2010|Anesthesia, Characteristics of music for surgery, Dangers and Side-effects of anesthesia, How music works, Music and Anesthesia, Surgery Music|0 Comments

Smartphones in surgery?

The question has been asked of us, whether or not smartphones are allowed in surgery? The answer appears to be a resounding “yes!!”

Smartphones have apparently been in the operating room for many years now and are primarily being used by the doctors and staff to get quick information.

Of course our purpose is to stream music to the patient through our surgery music app. Our patented process will be available for smartphones by the end of the year and will probably appeal to a younger, more “techie” population. It will also be extremely affordable and not require any outside approval or permissions. Stay tuned for updates to this exciting innovation from Surgical Serenity Music.

By DrAlice|August 12, 2010|Anesthesia, Common Fears in Surgery, Music in the hospitals, Surgery Music|0 Comments

Spinal and Epidural Anesthesia

Spinal and epidural anesthesia are being used more and more with childbirth, cesarian sections, leg surgeries and other surgeries where general anesthesia is not necessary. Doctors and anesthesiologists understand that general anesthesia carries many dangers with it and than the less anesthesia a patient can take, and remain comfortable, the safer the procedure will be overall.

Sometimes people are so afraid of the side-effects of anesthesia that they will refuse surgery when their lives could be greatly improved if they would have it.

Research is showing that adding music to the formula can actually help the patient use less anesthesia too. Listening to soft, slow and soothing music before, during, and after the procedure can decrease the amount of anesthesia required by up to 50%!

Watch this video, which will give you a medical perspective on how spinal anesthesia is administered and show you why it is preferable to general anesthesia, if possible!

By DrAlice|July 21, 2010|Anesthesia, Common Fears in Surgery, Dangers and Side-effects of anesthesia|0 Comments

Who benefits the most from music during surgery?

There are many populations that are particularly at-risk for the negative side-effects of general anesthesia during surgery. The elderly and those that suffer from serious and chronic health conditions are two major groups. Small children and especially those that are not healthy or already have serious disabilities.

Anesthesia is powerful but necessary reality in the world of medicine today. A lawyer just told me earlier today that an anesthesiologist that he represents said “an anesthesiologists job is 90% boredom and 10% sheer terror!” I thought that was an interesting and telling opinion coming from someone who administers anesthesia every day!

How does music help? I believe in a three-part process. If the patients is given the pre-programmed headphones between 30-45 minutes prior to surgery, their bodies and minds will begin relaxing right away. The music they are listening to is slow, steady and rhythmic, which entrains or synchronizes the heart rate and breathing with the music.

By the time they get into surgery, their body is already quite relaxed, muscles unclenched and mind drifting pleasantly. They will NOT need as much anesthesia in order to be put to sleep. Also, because their ears are gently covered with the headphones, they don’t have to worry about hearing conversations of the staff or hear the often un-nerving sounds of surgical equipment.

When they continue to wear the headphones into the recovery area, they are gently aware of the fact that they are out of surgery and now recovering from anesthesia so that they can be taken to their own hospital room. This happens around the world every day and music could greatly ease the process!

If you or someone you love is scheduled for surgery, please take a minute to go to www.surgicalheadphones.com and check out these potentially life-saving headphones. When you get home, you can easily change the music on them if you want and put your own favorite music on to enjoy for years to come!

By DrAlice|July 7, 2010|Anesthesia, Dangers and Side-effects of anesthesia|0 Comments

Surgical Pain and Proven Solutions

“In the USA alone over 53 million patients undergo surgical procedures
each year. Despite most patients receiving pain medication, 50-75% of
patients report that they experience inadequate pain control
(Datamonitor). Pain is the most commonly reported reason for
readmission to hospital within 30 days of discharge or for admission
directly after surgery. There is a substantial opportunity for novel
and innovative medicines to expand and segment this developing
market.”
Vernalis: Post Operative Pain: V1003

One of the most novel recent solutions is the development of the “Surgical Serenity Music Headphones.” These headphones are designed to entrain, or synchronize the pulse of the music to the beat of the patients heart and breathing. This keeps the patient relaxed, even when they’re asleep, and allows for less anesthesia to still keep the patient comfortable. After the surgery, the patient continues wearing the headphones into recovery and there they usually require less pain medication.

This is a novel, effective and low-cost solution that definitely merits further research!

By DrAlice|April 7, 2010|Anesthesia|0 Comments

Interesting history about anesthesia

There is so much in this world that we take for granted…we have to! We can’t be experts on everything and especially when it comes to the medical world, we must trust that our doctors know what they’re talking about. However, doctors are human, like everyone else, and they do make mistakes. We must decide for ourselves how much information we want to get about any particular procedure or test.

In line with this, I thought my readers might be interested to know a little more about the history of anesthesia. Enjoy!

The date of the first operation under anesthetic, Oct. 16, 1846, ranks among the most iconic in the history of medicine. It was the moment when Boston, and indeed the United States, first emerged as a world-class center of medical innovation. The room at the heart of Massachusetts General Hospital where the operation took place has been known ever since as the Ether Dome, and the word “anesthesia” itself was coined by the Boston physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes to denote the strange new state of suspended consciousness that the city’s physicians had witnessed. The news from Boston swept around the world, and it was recognized within weeks as a moment that had changed medicine forever.But what precisely was invented that day? Not a chemical – the mysterious substance used by William Morton, the local dentist who performed the procedure, turned out to be simply ether, a volatile solvent that had been in common use for decades. And not the idea of anesthesia – ether, and the anesthetic gas nitrous oxide, had both been thoroughly inhaled and explored. As far back as 1525, the Renaissance physician Paracelsus had recorded that it made chickens “fall asleep, but wake up again after some time without any bad effect,” and that it “extinguishes pain” for the duration. What the great moment in the Ether Dome really marked was something less tangible but far more significant: a huge cultural shift in the idea of pain. Operating under anesthetic would transform medicine, dramatically expanding the scope of what doctors were able to accomplish. What needed to change first wasn’t the technology – that was long since established – but medicine’s readiness to use it.

How does this apply to the acceptance of music during surgery? I’ll let you draw the parallels because I think it is fairly self-evident. Music has been used in medical settings for centuries. Evidence of this can be found easily by simply Googling “history of music in medicine.” Music is one of the most ancient and powerful of medical/healing interventions. But those of us who believe this fervently must get the word out to our doctors and have proof in hand. My blogs and my websites are filled with the facts and the documentation you need. If you want more, just email me through the blog or through my website, www.HealingMusicEnterprises.com.

By DrAlice|June 9, 2009|Anesthesia, Anesthesia history, Common Fears in Surgery, Dangers and Side-effects of anesthesia, Music and Anesthesia|0 Comments

People’s Fears of Surgery and Anesthesia

Most people are concerned and somewhat frightened when they learn that they are going to need surgery to correct, repair or heal from a condition. Many people are actually terrified that they will not wake up after general anesthesia. Although the science of anesthesiology has come a long way in the past five decades, there are definitely risks!

Recently I read a very interesting thread on a music blog. It went like this:

Who’s been under the knife? How does it feel waking up from the anesthesia? Do you feel groggy, disoriented, pain, numbness? Is it like waking up from a long sleep? Does the pain hit you like a 10 ton brick or does it gradually set in or do you have to keep taking pain killers?

The responses were fascinating: a combination of comforting and scaring the person further. To my delight, many of the readers seemed to be aware of the option of taking their iPod with their favorite music into surgery. If you’re looking at surgery in the near future, please feel free to contact me so assistance in preparing your perfect music!

By DrAlice|February 10, 2009|Anesthesia, Anesthesia and labor, Dangers and Side-effects of anesthesia, Fear of anesthesia|0 Comments

Fear of Anesthesia

It’s not too surprising that many people have a crippling fear of anesthesia. As a matter of fact, their fear is so intense and so overwhelming that they choose not to have surgery, rather than subject themselves to their terrifying projections. But is anesthesia really that dangerous? According to Sarah Wassner Flynn, (http://www.sheknows.com/) “Serious complications from general anesthesia are extremely rare: Malignant hyperthermia affects about one in 10,000 to one in 30,000 patients and far fewer – about five in one million – will die. But even one is too many. More common are side effects like nausea, dizziness and muscle aches, which are much less dangerous and easily managed.
Of course, my purpose in introducing this topic is to let you know that listening to soft, slow, steady instrmental music during surgery has been proven to relax the mind and body tension to the point that up to 50% less anesthesia can be taken and still the body and mind are completely anesthetized! Now that’s worth investigating, isn’t it? To read more, go to MUSIC FOR SURGERY. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all about the process, the research, or the music I have chosen! To your successful surgery!

By DrAlice|October 30, 2008|Anesthesia, Common Fears in Surgery, Dangers and Side-effects of anesthesia|3 Comments

Are you ready for music with your surgery?

People who live in the Louisville, KY area have been hearing about music with surgery for at least 10 years. At first blush, it seems like a radical idea, but once people understand that your body responds to music even when “asleep” it makes perfect sense. The first thing one must understand is: It’s NOT about entertainment! Although I’d like to believe that it is definitely enjoyable, the idea is that our minds and bodies respond to the slow, steady pulse of music by staying more relaxed and maintaining and slow, steady heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. THIS allows the patient to require up to 50% LESS anesthesia! That is phenomenal! Anesthesia is one of the most dangerous (but necessary) parts of surgery. If you can maintain the same level of sedation without nearly as much anesthesia, why wouldn’t you?

If you’re as excited about this as I am, stay tuned to this blog for regular updates!

By DrAlice|August 16, 2008|Anesthesia|0 Comments

Updates on Music with Surgery

Good Monday morning to you! As you may know, helping people to use music with their surgery is one of the main things that I do. There is so much research out there on the multiple and varied benefits of music THROUGH HEADPHONES during surgery that it’s no surprise that more and more hospitals are offering music to incoming surgery patients during the pre-surgery phase. I’m working hard to create a powerful and easy-to-use system that patients can take into surgery or having waiting for them in the waiting area. I’m working on an eBook right now that will provide a step-by-step process for creating your own surgery playlist and talking with your physician/surgeon about using music before, during and after the procedure.

As I travel around the country I try to talk with as many interested physicians as possible about these ideas. On a recent trip to Sarasota, Florida, I had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Marlene Buckler, an ER doc who is very excited about my music and surgery ideas and has given me many insights and suggestions already. I’d like to refer my readers to her website http://www.stayoutofmyer.com/ and suggest that you sign up for her free “Tip of the Week.” I’ve worked with hundreds of people now, helping them choose the perfect music for their procedure. I hope you’ll consider it and tell your friends to visit my website for more info! Have a great week!

By DrAlice|March 10, 2008|Anesthesia, Common Fears in Surgery, Fear of surgery, Headphones for other medical procedures|0 Comments