Blog - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Oct Oct 5, 2018

Using Music for the Patient During Surgery has never been easier!

By DrAlice|October 5, 2018|Music for the Patient|0 Comments

Learning that you need surgery or major dental work is never good new. It stirs up fear and anxiety right away. But now, using music for the patient has never been easier. For many decades, surgeons have chosen the music that they want to hear while operating, but oftentimes, it is assumed that the patient can’t hear the music because they are under anesthesia. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Many patients undergoing procedures that require general anesthesia report that they not only heard the surgeon’s music (that they didn’t particularly care for!) but they also heard conversations and comments that were very upsetting. Things such as “he’s not going to last long!” or “This is worse than we thought.”

Surgeons and surgical staff certainly don’t intend to upset the patient, but when the hearing is still active, it can happen. That is one of the many reasons that I created Surgical Serenity Solutions. The patient needs to be as calm and relaxed as possible when having surgery and now, with 3 different surgical playlists, this is possible. All of our music has been chosen to engage rhythmic entrainment! Our newest playlist, Relaxing Jazz, was created JUST for the patient who is having a medical procedure and is a little anxious or fearful.

There are also many benefits for the doctor:

A patient who is calm and relaxed is easier to treat
When heart-rate and breathing are being stabilized naturally, through music, patients need less medication
Patients who are given a choice of music through headphones, leave better patient satisfaction reviews
First adopters of our Surgical Serenity System, get immediate influx of referrals
First adopters of our system get noticed in the medical news and marketing magazines and newsletters.

NOW, patients who are anticipating surgery have many options for adding soothing, therapeutic music to their procedure. We still offer our original “hospital-model” headphones, our less-expensive “patient-model headphones” or now, our mobile app with 5 different playlists available! Just go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/products to get yours now! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at DrAlice@SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com

Sep Sep 21, 2018

Which Do You Prefer?

By DrAlice|September 21, 2018|Benefits of music during surgery, Delivering music during surgery|0 Comments

Are you a fan of mobile apps? I don’t know how I could get along without them! But for surgery?? People have been suggesting to me for 5-6 years now, that we put our Surgical Serenity playlists on an app. I was reluctant to do this because I really believe in the simple convenience of having the best music on a device that had no cords hanging down and would allow our powerful, therapeutic music to be immediately available to the patient in a simple and easy to deliver format!

BUT, time marches on, and after the 100th (at least) person mentioned it yet again, I thought “Ok, there must be something I’m missing about this but let’s give it a try! The way I understand it, in order to use this music, it must be downloaded on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod. Now those particular devices on known to be pretty germ-y! Especially the iPhone! Do we really want to be taking something like that into surgery? But now I’m thinking that the music can also be streamed by bluetooth so that each OR can have a couple of pair of nice blue tooth headphones and a subscription to our five playlists.

I guess that there are many ways to handle this and each hospital will have to decide what works best for them. I would love to sell just the five playlists in a digital subscription to hospitals but I’m not sure what the best way to do that might be. And so, I am soliciting your feedback! We are going through a beta-testing process right now and are looking for more beta-testers! If you have a smartphone and are willing to listen to our music and give us some valuable feedback, please answer in the comments here with your email, name, and whether you have an iPhone or Android. We’d also appreciate knowing a little bit about you, but you certainly don’t have to be a musician, a music therapy, or an anesthesiologist!

Thanks for your help and, as always, enjoy your favorite music every day!!

Jul Jul 30, 2018

Can the patient hear music when under anesthesia?

By DrAlice|July 30, 2018|Anesthesia|0 Comments

music can be heard while under anesthesia

Patient sleeping after Propofol

Can the patient hear music when under anesthesia? This is a questions that many people misunderstand. There are many different ways that people perceive music, and hearing is but one of those ways. Music creates vibrations and the human body is very sensitive to vibration. You can easily test this out by donning some noise-canceling headphones, or even put your hands tightly over your ears, than walk up to your TV or some speakers that are nearby. You may not hear the music, but you will feel the vibrations coming from the source of the music and the pulse of the rhythm. THAT allows for the power of the rhythmic music to entrainment.

For many years, patients and physicians both have believed that music could not be heard when under general anesthesia. Because of this, most physicians did not consider playing music for the patient, and the patient did not consider asking for it. A prominent exception to this was Dr. Kenton Leatherman, here in Louisville, KY, who realized in the early 1950’s how benficial beautiful music in the OR could be for patients. Dr. Leatherman told me that he actually paid a woman to play light classical and folk music on a record player in the corner of the OR. This was the day of 78 RPM records so she was turning over or changing a record every few minutes. Dr. Leatherman was famous for his lengthy and arduous surgeries and he related to me that he felt the music helped to keep his energy level up, as well as keeping the patient calm and relaxed with excessive anesthesia.

So if you are planning for a surgery or medical procedure like an endoscopy, colonoscopy or cataract surgery, please either choose some slow, soothing, steady music to bring in on your iPhone or iPod, or get some of the Surgical Serenity Solutions pre-loaded, cordless headphones for surgery! To purchase, click HERE!

Jun Jun 28, 2018

Surgery with Music is becoming available around the world!

By DrAlice|June 28, 2018|Anesthesia, Music and Anesthesia, Surgery Music|0 Comments

Surgery with Music is available in hospitals around the world

Surgery with music has been available in certain hospitals for many years. But it was always the exception, not the rule. In the late 20th century, and the early 21st centure, hospitals and medical schools began to take seriously all of the anecdotal reports that were being published in holistic medicine books and journals.

As the research came out, we had more and more empiracal evidence that surgery music can make significant differences in the amount of anxiety the patient experiences, the level of pain that the patients perceives, and the amount of nausea and vomiting the patient experiences, in the post-op period. These three things combine to reduce the overall time for the procedure to be performed and finally discharged from the hospital or surgery center.

By 2009 there was actually a product on the market to deliver the “scientifically-chosen, best music for surgery,” delivered through cordless headphones, which is the preferred choice for patients having surgery. The surgeon’s preferred music usually comes through a speaker in the operating room.

Now, patients have a choice of two kinds of headphones and a hospital can purchase a “Cloud Kit” that consists of 10-preprogrammed headphones, sitting on a USB hub, with a pop-up dispenser for disposable earpiece covers! The Cloud Kit is in many large hospitals around the world, as well as dental clinics.

If YOU, the patient, are having a dental surgery, root canal, extraction, or a medical procedure such as colonoscopy, cataract surgery or joint replacement, please consider getting yourself some of these amazing headphones!! Patients love them and usually end up requiring less medication, which leads to a faster and safer recovery! Just go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/patient-products to purchase either headphone or the music download.

Jun Jun 26, 2018

New Study Finds music through headphones helps children and adolescents during surgery

By DrAlice|June 26, 2018|Common Fears in Surgery, Music and Anesthesia|0 Comments

An interesting new study appeared today about benefits of intraoperative music with children and adolescents. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28685824. The study was published online, prior to coming out in the medical journal, Acta Anesthesia Scandinavia. According to the study, “Hospitalization, surgery and anaesthesia may lead to new-onset maladaptive behaviour, emotional distress and trauma. This pilot study aims to investigate the influence of intraoperatively applied music on post-operative behaviour in children and adolescents.”

Apparently, many children ages 6-16 sometimes display new, maladaptive behaviors after undergoing surgery. The intent of the study was to determine whether listening to music through headphones could make a difference in the appearance of these behaviors and emotions.

Obviously, no one wants to have surgery, but for children and adolescents, it’s even scarier because they have little or nothing to say about the procedure. Parents and doctors are totally in charge! But we know that children and adolescents love music and music can take them away; transport them to a familiar “safe place” when established feelings and memories reside and where the fear of a strange environment and unknown people just disappear!

Music is an almost magical process and especially when it’s delivered through lightweight, cordless, pre-loaded headphones! After I had created the Surgical Serenity headphones for adults, I realized that children and adolescents could also really benefit and I started searching for the perfect music that would be familiar, comforting, and available. I decided to record my own, specially-chosen playlist of lullabies. These lullabies have been putting children to sleep for hundreds of years and bring back warm, safe, and comforting memories of parents, grandparents, and other caregivers arms and laps!

If your child or teen is preparing for surgery, or even dental work or immunizations, you can put these headphones on them the day of the procedure and they will play continusouly for 8 hours. There’s just something about putting on headphones that makes the world disappear and a warm blanket of sound descends on your child. For more information, go HERE.

Jun Jun 13, 2018

Total Knee Replacement…with Music!!

By DrAlice|June 13, 2018|joint replacement surgery, knee replacement surgery|0 Comments

Total knee replacements are being done around the world all day every day. With the Baby Boomer population finally entering their retirement years, the surgeries to repair aging bodies are happening in every country on the planet. Of course, no one really WANTS to have surgery, but joints that are worn out cause a lot of pain and create a major impairment to a happy and comfortable retirement. Just as we finally have the time to start enjoying every single day, travel, vacation, and play with the grandchildren, our bodies start falling apart! It’s not fair, is it?

But there are lots of ways to make this procedure more tolerable, safer, and improve surgical outcomes, all in a perfectly natural way! The method that you can now utilize and benefit from now is the use of scientifically chosen and sequenced classical piano music that calms, soothes, and stabilizes vital signs through a process called rhythmic entrainment. This process was discovered hundreds of years ago, but thanks to modern technology, this music has been pre-loaded into lightweight, cordless headphones and they are being used in hospitals and dental clinics around the world!

What do the patients say, you ask? Well, the reviews are glowing! “It made all the difference in the world” is one that I hear over and over. “I will never have surgery again without this marvelous headphones!” is another that I’ve heard numerous times! Another patient said “I drifted off to sleep this time, not frightened and worried that I might not wake up, but listening to this beautiful music. Then there was a period where I heard nothing, then suddenly I was waking up again and listening to that beautiful music and I knew the surgery was over!”

Are YOU having knee replacement or hip replacement surgery? Or any painful or anxiety-producing surgery at all? If so, you might consider getting the Surgical Serenity Headphones, already loaded with our beautiful, chosen for surgery music!! Just go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com.

Jan Jan 12, 2018

Orthopedic Surgery Post-Op Pain, quickly improved with Surgical Serenity

By DrAlice|January 12, 2018|Orthopedic Surgery|0 Comments

Orthopedic surgery post-op pain is a reality for people of all ages, but especially the babyboomers. Late last night I received a text message from a lady here in Louisville, KY. She was in pain as a result of having knee replacement surgery the day before, and did not want to take opioid pain medication any longer than she had to! She told me that if she could get some of our Surgical Serenity Solutions headphones and starting listening and responding to our therapeutic, proprietary music, she could get off of the medication a lot sooner! I agreed, of course. Research in the British medical journal ” Lancet” documents a significant decrease in pain during and after surgery, as well as a significant decrease in the anxiety level of the patient. In a study done on our headphones and music at the Robley Rex VA Hospital, a 20% decrease in pain perception was documented. The lady told me that she had “thought about” getting the headphones before the surgery, but decided “no, I’m a big girl, I can handle it” but after she got home, she realized that she needed something for pain and that the pain medication the doctor prescribed was “just a little too scary, in terms of addiction potential.” As a professional healthcare provider, I would NEVER tell a patient not to take pain medication after surgery. Cutting into the body for whatever reason is painful and that’s a fact. But using non-pharmacological treatments, such as therapeutic music, to help with pain management is an excellent, well-documented, and proven idea.

Our knee surgery patient is well acquainted with the concepts of music medicine, music therapy, and the power of rhythmic entrainment as it affects the relaxation response. When she texted me last night, I knew that a winter storm was predicted to hit Louisville, so I got a new pair out for her, loaded the music onto them, charged them overnight, and delivered them to her at 8:30 this morning, just as the freezing rain was beginning to fall! I wish I had a video of her putting them on for the first time. She IMMEDIATELY gave a sigh of relief as she put them on, and said “oh! that music is so beautiful!” She then closed her eyes and went to sleep. Even I was a little surprised at how quickly she began to benefit. Her sister smiled and said, “I think she’ll be off the pain meds really soon!”

So what is the moral of this story? If you KNOW in advance that you’re going to be having surgery of any kind, dental, physical, colonoscopy, etc., order your Surgical Serenity Solutions headphones NOW! They are less than $100 and can be used for months and months after the procedure. You can even put your favorite music on them afterwards if you wish. The music I have chosen is music that easily and quickly engages rhythmic entrainment and allows the body to experience the relaxation response.

These headphones are being used in hospitals and dental clinics around the world and doctors and patients alike love them. Go now to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com and click on BUY! You’ll be so glad that you did!

Dec Dec 9, 2017

Do YOU have a fear of Anesthesia or Surgery?

By DrAlice|December 9, 2017|Fear and Anxiety about Surgery, Fear of anesthesia|0 Comments

Do YOU have a fear of anesthesia or surgery? So many people have an intense fear of anesthesia and surgery that they postpone needed surgery, that could greatly improve their quality of life, because they are afraid that they will be in a worse condition, or not wake up at all! Why do people experience fear this intense? There can be lots of reasons.

Perhaps you come from a family of people who do not like going to the doctor because “the doctor always finds something wrong.” Perhaps you know someone who has had a bad experience with surgery or anesthesia. Perhaps YOU have had a bad experience with surgery or anesthesia.

The fact is, mistakes do happen, but in today’s medical world, surgery and anesthesia have never been more safe. Fear and anxiety are rampant! Everyone who is about to have surgery, has an extensive history taken by the doctors and nurses, about how you and other family members have responded to anesthesia in the past. Thanks to the internet, there is LOTS of excellent, reputable information on the internet.

Still, fear and anxiety are not always rational. If you have had an unexpected reaction in the past, or a close friend or family member has, you are probably going to be really scared and concerned. I don’t want to diminish that or say that it’s silly or unwarranted. How does our Serenity Music help with that? Research has shown that when slow, steady, soothing music is played for a patient that has a racing pulse and rapid, shallow breathing, the music can actually slow the patient’s heart and breathing down, and keep them steady! When this happens, the “relaxation response” kicks in, and then “rhythmic entrainment” can work for you. The more relaxed your body and muscles are, the easier it is for the doctors and nurses to do what they need to do to help you.

If your muscles are tense and stiff, it’s going to take more medication to relax you, and more medication to wake up from and recover from. Yes, you also have to recover from the medication!!

We have two different styles of headphones you can purchase. The more expensive one holds more music, but both can be used long after your surgery and you can load your own favorite music onto it! You can also purchase a download of our Serenity music and use on your iPod or iPhone for relaxation or insomnia!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions at all! Our email is DrAlice@SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com

Oct Oct 9, 2017

Another VA Hospital Adopts a Surgery with Music Program

By DrAlice|October 9, 2017|Benefits of cordless headphones, Benefits of music during surgery|0 Comments

When the VA Hospital in Louisville, KY decided to purchase 100 of our headphones and conduct a clinical study on the benefits of music with surgery, we, Surgical Serenity Solutions, were thrilled!! At the time, we were not aware of any other Veteran’s hospitals that had a music with surgery program, but that has now changed!!

The VA Hospital in Durham, NC has started a program for music with surgery and it’s very similar to ours, but also different. They are using iPods that are loaded with a variety of surgery playlists, connected to disposable headphones. Their music was selected based on veterans’ preferences whereas mine is chosen specifically for it’s ability to induce rhythmic entrainment. Both methods are good, I think, but I do like the aspect of cordless headphones that already contain the music that will be used for surgery, loaded onto headphones!

I’ll probably be talking to them about trying our our headphones later this week! Will keep you posted!! Meanwhile, which would YOU prefer?

Oct Oct 4, 2017

Surgical Serenity Solutions and insurance coverage

By DrAlice|October 4, 2017|Surgical Serenity and Insurance coverage|0 Comments

How great would it be if the Surgical Serenity Solutions headset was completely covered by health insurance? This Monday morning, I’ll be talking to an executive with one of the major insurance companies. He is very interested in knowing more about the Surgical Serenity Solutions and understanding how music brings improved surgical outcomes.

Of course, those of us that have believing in and using music during surgery, KNOW about the multiple and rich benefits it brings. But this is an old, old story. Something new appears in our world, and people say “oh that will never work!” “It’s just an old wive’s tale” “there’s absolutely no scientific proof!”

Interestingly, these are the very reasons that caused Dr. Joel Elkes, professor of Psychiatry at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, to hire me in 1990. He knew how powerful music can be in medicine, and he said “all we really have is anecdotal evidence, Alice, and I want YOU to start doing the research that will provide empirical, scientific, evidence of music as medicine.

From 1990-2005, I focused on toning, chanting, music with Alzheimer’s disease, and music with preemies. All through that time I was becoming increasingly aware that music before and after surgery was powerful in reducing anxiety and pain perception, but also that very few people realized this.

Fast forward to 2017: hundreds of thousands of people now understand that music in the peri-operative period is valuable, but patients would prefer that the hospital would stock the pre-loaded, cordless, headphones and that insurance would cover that. My original plan, was to start the marketing of the headphones in plastic surgery practices, where people expect to pay out of pocket. I’ve started that process, but getting in to see plastic surgeons is not easy. I’m always eager to hear your ideas!!