Yesterday I was at a local outpatient hospital with a friend who was getting a colonoscopy. The anesthesiologist stopped by her cubicle for just a brief conversation about the procedure and what anesthesia they would use.

She had already told the surgeon that she wanted to listen to our special music through her phone app but was told that it would be up to the anesthesiologist.

When the anesthesiologist arrived he was very open to the idea and was aware that there is more and more research documenting the benefits of therapeutic music as an adjunct to anesthesia. I explained to him that Surgical Serenity Solutions has a free app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store that can be downloaded in minutes.

Once the app is downloaded the patient-or anesthesiologist in this case- can choose one of five playlists and purchase it for $9.99. The anesthesiologist did this on the spot and said that he though this would be so much better than just playing Spotify on speakers in the OR.

My friend had her colonoscopy and the earbuds were still in her ears and Jazz playlists playing when they brought her back to recovery after the procedure. She remained asleep for another 10 minutes or so but the music was still playing and she looked very peaceful.

Finally the nurse came in, called her name and she woke up with a smile on her face, asking if it’s over.  Nobody really wants a colonoscopy but it’s a valuable procedure that can give you an early alert if you have colon cancer. Hopefully my friend is fine thought they did find a polyp that was removed during the procedure.

The anesthesiologist stopped by once more and said that he was so glad to know that this existed and that he planned to let all of his colleagues know about this and encourage them to get it.

The great thing is, hospitals can have this waiting for each patient in the OR by licensing all 5 playlists and giving the patients a choice when they arrive at the hospital that morning. Hospitals can provide high quality bluetooth headphones and use disposable earpiece covers.

OR, if hospital doesn’t want to offer this, they can tell patient about the playlists at their final pre-surgery visit and allow the patient to bring their own Iphone into surgery with the playlist already on the phone, ready to go!

To learn more, go to www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/calm.