Blog - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Sep Sep 4, 2023

Headphones for surgery, headphones for MRI

By DrAlice|September 4, 2023|Other hospital headphones|0 Comments

Just as I think I know all there is to know about hospital headphones, something new appears!! Since the late 1990’s my focus has been on headphones that are specifically intended to be used before, during and after surgery. I started with headphones for surgery because of a personal experience with surgery in the mid-1990’s.

As time went on, doctors and patients were frequently proposing so many other used for my pre-loaded headphones. Dentistry, chemotherapy, hospice patients were a few of those.

Many people asked if our pre-loaded headphones could be used in an MRI machine and the answer has always been “no” because there is a tiny bit of metal in them and that would not be allowed. MRI standsSo for “Magnetic Resonance Imaging” and the machine has a giant magnet in it. When the buzzing the clanging start (depending on what part of your body has a problem) the vibrating of your bones and organs produces a clear image of that body part. This allow the physician to understand exactly what is going on in the body. Brilliant idea!

But because our headphones have that tiny bit of metal in them, they can’t be used in the MRI machine because it would interfere.

So, last Wednesday I had to have an MRI and I was prepared to have them play music through speakers in the MRI machine. That’s what I’ve had in the past and it’s OK when the beeping and buzzing and clanging aren’t going on, but when they are, it’s impossible to hear the music. When they asked me if I’d like headphones I was flabbergasted! And the headphones that you see in the picture are what they gave me.

The machine was made by the Siemens company, and the headphones plug into a place at the foot of the MRI machine. They have absolutely no metal in them and the music comes through an airtube. For me, the headphones were a little tight, but I guess they were trying to make them as noise cancelling as possible. The quality of the music they played, Pandora, the MRI tech said, was not good and sounded to me kind of like AM radio. There was even talking at one point which sort of broke whatever relaxation feel I might have had. Anyway, it was still an interesting and educational experience for me.

When I created the Surgical Serenity headphones, I specifically wanted cordless headphones because in surgery, there are so many cords that the anesthesiologist usually has to manage. This way, the headphones are completely away from the surgical procedure that’s going on and our music doesn’t interfere with anything. But in an MRI machine, there are no other people around and the patient is lying in an enclosed space so the air tube doesn’t interfere with anything.

So, lesson learned. Other people have thought about using music in other medical procedures and I’m happy about that. Now, if they can think about the fact that people who composed the music that Pandora uses need to get paid too. For that to happen, hospitals and medical facilities need to purchase a healthcare facility license and not just use a personal Pandora subscription.

I don’t have any direct connection yet with these MRI headphone manufacturers but if you do please let me know in the comments because I’d love to talk to them about using my scientifically validated, therapeutic music.

To get Surgical Serenity headphones for YOUR hospital, go to www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/hospitalheadphones.

Aug Aug 2, 2023

Surgical Playlists in the Operating Room: headphones or speakers?

By DrAlice|August 2, 2023|Preparing for Surgery Using Music|0 Comments

Elderly patient wearing headphones after surgery

Woman relaxed wearing headphones before surgery

This is an exciting era in the field of Music Medicine and Music Therapy! Researchers are actively conducting studies and numerous clinical trials are underway in hospitals across the globe. While patients have always recognized the calming and healing effects of music, scientists now seek solid data to support this phenomenon.

The Age-Old Healing Power of Music

Throughout history, music has been a cherished and time-tested means to soothe both the mind and body. Its therapeutic potential is undeniable, but in today’s world, empirical evidence is crucial to substantiate music as a legitimate therapeutic modality. Anecdotal accounts, though valuable, fall short of meeting the rigorous demands of scientific scrutiny.

In order to make a well-researched decision about giving a patient personal, pre-loaded headphones, or music through speakers in the room,

You need to know:

What kind of music patients need
For how long they need this music
How the music should be delivered, i.e. through headphones or speakers in the room

The questions that I deal with frequently are:

Why should I have my own music that I chose, through headphones when the surgeon has already chosen the music he thinks is best?
Why can’t I choose the music that I want to hear during my surgery?
Why is it so important to have preloaded headphones?

In 2019 I wrote a book specifically to answer these questions. You can find it on Amazon.com in paperback or Kindle format. I also answer many of these questions on my YouTube channel. (While you’re visiting my YouTube channel, please subscribe!)

Recently a study came out showing the many benefits of music with heart surgery. Anxiety reduction was the primarily goal and the study demonstrated a significant benefit to the patients.

Read the study here.

https://studyfinds.org/music-medicine-pain-anxiety-heart-surgery/

Much of the information online today shows a patient wearing headphones. Although the patient on the left is wearing headphones that have a cord, we provide headphones that are cordless and are pre-loaded with the soothing, therapeutic playlist of YOUR choice. We understand now that individual headphones for patients are important. The personal headphones with therapeutic music create a sonic cocoon that music through speakers in a large room cannot provide.

For surgery, especially, the patient needs to be protected from conversations that slip into the subconscious and create unnecessary anxiety. So many patients report that, even under anesthesia, they hear the medical team talk about potentially negative outcomes of the surgery, or worse yet, conversations that were not related to the patient or surgery at all!

If you’re ready to order our headphones for YOUR hospital, go to www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/hospitalheadphones.

Jun Jun 18, 2023

The importance of reviews to a company like Surgical Serenity Solutions

By DrAlice|June 18, 2023|reviews of Surgical Serenity Solutions, written reviews of Surgical Serenity|0 Comments

If you are a hospital administrator or president of a medical/medical device company, you know how important reviews are! I certainly rely on product reviews, physician reviews, and reviews of service providers.

When I first created Surgical Serenity Solutions back in 2005, (known then as Healing Music Enterprises) the internet was still pretty new and internet marketing was really just getting started for small businesses. We were mainly just focused on getting our messages out and in our case, we were trying to scour the internet for medical and surgical research that had focused on the use of music as an analgesic and an anxiolytic agent.

We were also educating medical professionals about the difference between music therapy and music medicine because most people thought the terms were interchangeable. We were trying to get our U.S. Patent approved and jumping through lots of hoops to prove that our headphones were safe in a surgical setting. All of these things were accomplished by 2009.

Then we began hearing about the importance of patient reviews and physician and hospital reviews so we set out to garner some of those.

To our delight, the positive and even glowing reviews began rolling in, many times without even asking for them! One of our first was from a physician in our city of Louisville, KY who had heard me speak at a local medical meeting and ordered the headphones for her upcoming surgery. Apparently she was concerned that she might get some flack from the surgeon or other OR staff but here’s what she told us:

Sandra Elam, MD at Lifespring Inc.

Dr Alice Cash’s earphones designed for surgery are the highest and best thing you can do for yourself if you are facing surgery. I had had a failed bowel resection (colectomy) , then an ileostomy. I was in no way prepared for those surgeries and they were terrible. Using Dr. Cash’s headphones for the third and reversal surgery was a completely different experience. The surgeon as well as the anesthesiologists were impressed, and said that it made their work easier!! I don’t know why everybody doesn’t wear them into surgery!

This was double powerful for us because Dr. Elam was speaking both as a patient and a physician!

Another patient had the problem of being slow to wake up from anesthesia after surgery. This happens more often than you might think, especially among those who are either elderly or have multiple serious health conditions. Here is was Mary Jo told us:

“In August 2014 I had gall bladder surgery. I was apprehensive since I was so slow to come out of the anesthesia during past surgeries. I never saw the inside of the recovery rooms. It took so long they just moved me on to the post-op room. I used the Surgical Serenity headphones for a couple of weeks prior to the surgery, plus before and during the surgery and recovery. Prior to the surgery, my blood pressure was lower than normal and I woke up in the recovery room for the first time ever! I highly recommend these headphones to anyone preparing to have surgery!”

May May 31, 2023

Adolescents in the Pediatric ICU: Music therapy and hand massage

By DrAlice|May 31, 2023|adolescent surgery, hand massage|0 Comments

Photo by Vladislav Anchuk on Unsplash

Adolescents are prone to anxiety under the best of circumstances. It’s a time a life that’s full of changes, some expected, some unexpected! Having to be in a pediatric ICU is definitely unexpected and the anxiety levels there are sky-high!

So I was particularly happy to see this new research study appear online this morning in my email entitled:

Impact of music therapy and hand massage in the pediatric intensive care unit on pain, fear and stress: Randomized controlled trial

In this empirical study, conducted in Turkey, the adolescents were divided into three groups.

a music group of 33 patients
a hand massage group of 33 patients
a control group of 33 patients that received the standard care

The study does not reveal what the music intervention was, but reports at the end that “Nurses may use music therapy and hand massage to manage fear and pain related to blood drawing in the PICU.”

The results were that both the music group and the hand massage group had lower pain and fear score results, based on the FACES pain scale

as well as a a pain scale called the Children’s Fear scale. The researchers also looked at blood cortisol levels. (Cortisol is a hormone. produced by the adrenal glands and found in the blood when people are under great stress.)

Here is a link to the study if you’d like to read more about it: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37230011/

I am grateful that these studies exist but it would be so helpful if the researchers would let us know the type of music they used and how it was delivered. As a colleague of mine said recently, it’s like saying “the researchers gave the patient medicine,” but not say what the medicine was or how much they gave or how often!

They also state that the “music therapy” can be delivered by nurses! Unless the nurse is also a music therapist, this is not possible. HOWEVER, the nurse can definitely deliver music medicine through pre-loaded headphones with therapeutic music chosen by a clinical musicologist.

To read more about this, go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/patient-products.

May May 6, 2023

How anesthesiologists discovered the value of music with Surgical Serenity Solutions headphones

By DrAlice|May 6, 2023|Anesthesiologists and Surgical Serenity Solutions|0 Comments

healthy resting heartbeat entrains to music through headphones

Patient enjoying serene music that entrains with healthy resting heartbeat

When I first had the idea to create preloaded headphones for surgical patients, it was because I had gone through a surgical procedure that terrified me. I was told that I needed to have back surgery for a ruptured disk. After 40+ years of sitting at the piano for 4-5 hours a day to practice, I would then sit in a chair teaching piano for 4-5 hours a day.

People have to have surgery for many different reasons but when they are told they need surgery, fear and anxiety are almost always the feelings they experience first. As a professional musician and lover of music, I thought that if patients could be handed a headphone with soothing, calming, comforting music on it, as soon as they arrive at the hospital, this could really make a difference.

As I began to research the idea, I learned that the patient’s anxiety causes their muscles to tense up, all over the body, and some of the initial medication given to the patient at the hospital is to begin to relax those muscles. The more relaxed your muscles are when you’re wheeled into the operating room, the less anesthesia it will take to sedate you, and the less pain medication (opioids) it will take to keep you comfortable during the procedure!

Dr Cash speaks to hospitals and surgeons around the world! I was focused exclusively on the patient at first, but then I realized that I really did need the “buy-in” or confirmation that this was a good idea from the anesthesiologist and surgeon. At the time, I was working a the University of Louisville School of Medicine, so finding surgeons and anesthesiologists to dialogue with was not difficult.

Here is an excerpt from one anesthesiologist who also is a professional violinist:

“As an anesthesiologist with an extensive background in classical music, I am a strong proponent of Dr. Cash’s proprietary, rhythmic entrainment focused music, pre-loaded on cordless headphones.

Rarely, if ever, in medicine is there an intervention that has repeatedly demonstrated efficacy in multiple studies that also carries with it virtually no risk to the patient.

As a physician, I am always weighing the risks and benefits of each treatment to determine if it’s worth utilizing. Surgical Serenity Headphones are unique in that they carry immense benefits without any downside.

I am always pleased to accommodate a patient’s wishes to bring music into the operating room. I would be particularly enthusiastic if they had these pre-programmed cordless headphones that would maximize the physiologic benefits through rhythmic entrainment.

I recommend talking to your surgeon as soon as possible in the process, and certainly mention your desire to bring headphones in on the day of surgery to the anesthesia team. This would best be accomplished if you have a pre-op appointment with someone from anesthesia, but not everyone will have this chance. This could also happen during a pre-op phone call.

Whenever it happens, try to be prepared to assuage any concerns or skepticism with the fact that these headphones, and music in general, have been and are currently being used in operating rooms across the planet, including many world-renowned medical centers.”

One of the first reports that I wrote for patients was called “How to Talk with your Doctor about Using music during surgery.” In the beginning, patients were concerned (and rightly so!) that their doctor wouldn’t let them bring their headphones from home into surgery.

I learned quickly that hospitals around the country have very different policies from each other and that while some hospitals and doctors are totally OK with this concept, depending on what the specific surgery is, other hospitals totally forbid “anything from home” coming into the OR.

patient listens to soothing jazz while waiting for cataract surgery Now, music in the operating room is more expected than not. But what patients nor doctors still realize is that the patient DOES respond to music that is playing nearby, even when they are under general anesthesia! Yes! The patient may not consciously HEAR the music, but their body does respond to the rhythm of the music by entraining to it…the patient’s own heartbeat and breathing TENDS to sync with the tempo of music playing in the room. That is why the music for the patient needs to be different from the music that surgeon has chosen!

Surgical Serenity Solutions has created the solution for this dilemma! Our pre-loaded headphones put the ideal slow, soothing music directly into the patient’s ears with playlists in 5 different genres. And the doctor can still have his or her music playing ambiently to help them maintain their energy and focus. To read more about our headphones, which can be ordered by patients or hospitals, go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com.

Apr Apr 24, 2023

Emergency surgery for a retinal tear

By DrAlice|April 24, 2023|Emergency surgery|0 Comments

Surgery with the use of Surgical Serenity music throughout

Recently a dear friend went to his ophthalmologist because of a problem with his left eye and a sudden gray fog that appeared. He was really not expecting it to be a big deal, but when the Dr finally got a good look, he said “you need emergency surgery! you have a retinal tear (torn retina).” This was 9:30 in the morning and he finally found an available retinal surgeon that afternoon at 5 PM. What an ordeal!!

No one knows what causes a retinal tear, or a detached retina, or a macular hole, but when these things happen, it’s an emergency and our feelings and emotions start working overtime. Life is full of unexpected twists and turns, but taking pills and liquids is not the only solution. Healing music is!! Of course the therapeutic music is not going to “cure” anything, but the right music can definitely ameliorate the symptoms by calming the body and reducing anxiety and pain perception.

Our surgical headphones have been accompanying patients into surgery since 2009 and we are now the biggest producer of surgical headphones in the world. You can read and view some of our patient testimonials at www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/testimonials. Our soothing, therapeutic music makes SUCH a difference that patients and physicians are usually quite surprised.

This is not just any relaxing music. We have specifically tested and chosen music in 5 distinct genres that begins to calm and soothe the patient as soon as they put on our lightweight, cordless headphones. Dr. Cash is a concert pianist, a clinical social worker, and a clinical musicologist with 33 years experience in the medical field.

Our music is played on acoustic instruments (except for the New Age playlist) and performed by professionals, dedicated to our mission of providing therapeutic music for surgical patients to ease their anxiety and their pain perception.

If your hospital is ready to step into the future and provide their patients with a cutting-edge product, click this link now. Surgical Headphones

Our headphones will be prepared and shipped to you within 30 days and you can buy them online, send a purchase order, or write a check!

Give your patients the gift of soothing, therapeutic music and the likelihood of less medication and a faster recovery! Surgical Headphones

Apr Apr 1, 2023

Are medical procedures traumatic for you?

By DrAlice|April 1, 2023|medical trauma, Music and Eye Surgery|0 Comments

As a psychotherapist and a clinical musicologist, patients tell me on a regular basis that they are filled with anxiety about upcoming medical procedures. Anything from an injection or blood draw, to major or minor surgery seems to evoke a level of fear that is significant. You don’t have to have a car crash, or near-death experience to perceive trauma in an upcoming procedure.

And remember, trauma is in the heart and mind of the person having the procedure.

I must admit that I get pretty worked up myself over procedures large and small, medical and dental. Recently I had to have some thyroid nodules biopsied and I was very anxious about the potential pain. This is one of the many procedures that a local numbing injection is all that they can give you and of course, this one is right in the neck. After 20 minutes, the doctor came in and gave me 8 more needles in the same area! Seems cruel but that’s the only way to sample and test the nodules.

As it turned out, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared and all of the nodules were benign. But the places my mind went were scary and things could have turned out much differently.

So what do YOU do when you know you’re going to have to have a scary medical procedure or a big dental procedure, or even surgery? There are SO many medical and nursing research studies that document the powerful calming and sedative benefits of music. Not just ANY music though. Some people (even Doctors and nurses) think that something fun and upbeat will be just the ticket. Others believe that relaxation music, i.e. nature sounds or binaural beats, (slightly different frequencies played separately in each ear) will do the trick.

Instead, through my own readings, and verified through my research, I have discovered my proprietary, patented system of music that effectively reduces anxiety and pain perception. The principles I use can be applied to any genre of music and I created five playlists in five different genres so that the patient can choose their favorite.

Patients who used this system needed less anxiety medication, they needed less anesthesia (which means they wake up sooner and easier) and less pain medication afterwards. Pain medication in particular can be a problem because patients can get addicted to opioids. It’s not a moral issue at all. When people are in pain, and pain is very subjective, all they want is to be out of pain. Opioids will do this, but if you take them longer than 5-7 days, it is possible to build up a tolerance and then the problem starts.

Using music before, during and after your procedure will decrease the need for AS MUCH anxiety medication (xanax, valium), anesthesia (propofol, etc–the one that killed Michael Jackson), and pain medication afterwards (opioids). On my website, you can ready many of the best recent research studies about the power of music with surgery and other medical procedures. www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/research.

One of the main reasons I created Surgical Serenity Solutions was for myself. I do not like pain but I do LOVE music. When I discovered how well-documented this intervention was, I tried to find a simple way to provide music for all patients who are fearful of upcoming procedures. After trying several other methods, I came up with the idea of putting the ideal music (I am also a clinical musicologist) on cordless headphones that would not interfere in any way with the surgical team or dental staff. Since 2009, we have continuously improved the delivery method and added four new genres of playlists.

The patient can now purchase the preloaded headphones or the hospital can purchase them in bulk and have them waiting for the patient! Our 5 playlists (Classical, Jazz, New Age, Lullabies, or Memory Care) can be streamed to bluetooth headphones that patient or hospital already owns, or the patient can bring their own AirPods and stream from their cellphone or an iPad already in the operating room.

This patient is waiting to go into surgery. and is feeling no pain! He’s waiting to have a cataract removed and is listing to the Jazz playlist. When it was all over, he reported “that was such an amazing experience, have easy but steady jazz music playing while the surgeon went about her business and I heard none of it. I will take these headphones to every medical and dental procedure I ever go to!”

Do you want this for yourself or for your hospital and patients. ORDER NOW!! Go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/hospitalheadphones or

www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/patientheadphones.

P.S. These headphones contain no metal so they are safe in hospital or surgical settings that don’t allow any metal! 🙂

Get YOURS today!

Feb Feb 1, 2023

During surgery, what do staff talk about in the OR?

By DrAlice|February 1, 2023|Surgery, Surgery and Mind-Body Relaxation|0 Comments

Cataract Surgery with Bluetooth headphones and Surgical Serenity Lullaby playlist

Dr Cash’s cataract surgery using Bluetooth headphones and Surgical Serenity playlist

I read a very interesting post yesterday. A nurse who worked in surgery 30-40 years ago said that during whatever procedure the surgeon was doing, he was talking to the patient the entire time. Even though the patient was under general anesthesia, the surgeon addressed him as Mr. ____ and explained everything he was doing, as he was doing it. He also added positive comments such as “the operation is going very well,” “you’re going to recover quickly and easily from this,” and “you will feel so much better for having had this procedure.”

He did not allow any OR chatter among the staff or talk about the patient as though he couldn’t hear them. I wonder how often this happens today, around the world?

Apparently this is not the norm today. The OR chatter is filled with topics that have nothing to do with the patient and sometimes the patient is talked about in a demeaning way. Now I don’t think that’s the norm, but it does happen and there have been lawsuits about this in the news recently.

Having surgery is a very frightening experience for many people. Just recently I was told that I need to have a biopsy on my thyroid and I am truly not looking forward to that! But surgeries, biopsies, and testing of all kinds are daily occurrences around the world. Modern medicine has created many, many procedures that involve probing into the body to eliminate, destroy, or treat illness.

While this is going on, the patient benefits from being as calm as possible! I actually love the idea of the doctor talking to the patient throughout the procedure, especially if it’s calm, positive talk. I have heard from so many patients that even under general anesthesia, or perhaps as they were waking up, they heard OR staff discussing their lunch or dinner plans, their date the night before, or topics totally unrelated to their surgery or procedure. That does NOT feel good. Patients don’t want to feel like their procedure is not that important to the people who are conducting it.

Actually, the turning point for me was when I heard that a surgeon in a large downtown hospital here was playing “Another one bites the dust” by QUEEN during most of his surgeries! I was horrified! That is not funny or cute and is extremely disrespectful. How much kinder, healing, and respectful is addressing the patient directly with words that calm, soothe, and encourage the patient to begin healing. Think about it.

In the meantime, if is not your practice to talk to the patient that you’re operating on, you should know that research shows that when patients listen to soothing music through headphones, they recover better and with less PONV. Get your patients the Surgical Serenity Solutions preloaded headphones, with soothing, slow and completely instrumental music. They will definitely thank you for this!

Jan Jan 23, 2023

More about getting a healthcare facility license

By DrAlice|January 23, 2023|Apple Family sharing, Healthcare License to play music|0 Comments

Are you a healthcare facility, or are you affiliated with a healthcare facility? Does your healthcare facility play music for its patients as part of surgery, MRI, or other procedures? Are you currently using a Pandora, Spotify, or Apple Family Sharing account? If so, STOP! You are subject to large fines, UNLESS you purchase a healthcare license from ASCAP or BMI.

https://www.ascap.com/~/media/files/pdf/licensing/classes/healthcare-license.pdf

Now that more and more hospitals are seeing the research studies documenting the power of soothing music through headphones for the patient, it’s really important to know that you’re getting music that is already licensed by the company who is selling the pre-loaded headphones.

When I had the idea to create pre-loaded headphones back in 2005, I learned about how medical facilities were mainly using music chosen by the surgeons for the surgeons. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give the patient soothing music through headphones. Some surgeons knew intuitively that this was a good idea but most surgical staffs did not have the time or the know-how to create playlists that would be soothing and comforting for the patient and would take them through pre-op into surgery, through surgery, and then into recovery.

And then music became digitized and MP3 players or iPods were an option. And then Pandora and Spotify and Apple Family Sharing came along and some hospitals had music therapists or nurses or even surgeons who started making some playlists for surgeons. For a decade or more this was a growing phenomenon. During that time Surgical Serenity Solutions was marketing to patients and they were buying our pre-loaded headphones and taking them in to their surgeries.

Around 2018-19, just before Covid hit, Surgical Serenity Solutions started marketing primarily to hospitals and in the course of making that switch, I learned that ASCAP, the national organization that licenses all music, had decided to create a healthcare license that hospitals could purchase for a nominal fee in order to create their own playlists to offer patients. As of January 1, 2019 hospitals were required to purchase a healthcare license in order to use Pandora, Spotify or Apple Family Sharing.

The problem with this option is that music therapists usually don’t have the time and surgeons and nurses don’t have the know-how to choose music that will result in reduced anxiety and pain perception.

Woman relaxed wearing headphones before surgery

So a great alternative is to purchase Surgical Serenity Solutions (SSS) pre-loaded headphones because:

the music is legal to use because it is commissioned and owned by SSS, in the public domain, performed by myself, a concert pianist, or already licensed by me for sale.
the music is scientifically chosen and shown to engage rhythmic entrainment, reduce anxiety and lower pain perception.

Of course if you want to buy a license for your hospital or Ambulatory Surgery Center, you can do that. But most busy surgeons simply don’t have the time to do that and music therapists typically don’t work with surgical patients by creating playlists for them to use in the perioperative period.

If YOUR hospital or center wants to learn more, you can go to https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/preloaded-headphones-for-hospitals/

For a white paper that I wrote for physicians about the benefits of music for patients, go to https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/4-reasons.

If you have any questions at all please contact me immediately by filling out the form at https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/contact-us/. We look forward to answering all of your questions and helping you and your patients to understand the benefits of music during surgery and provide you with ready-to-go pre-loaded headphones that have already been proven effective to hundreds and thousands of patients. Our music is also available to license for hospital so that patients could bring their own bluetooth headphones and stream our surgical playlists. You can go HERE to hear samples of this music.

Step into the future of music with surgery and hospitals providing the best in scientifically curated and sequenced music! Surgical Serenity Solutions is the future!

Nov Nov 28, 2022

Mozart and Surgery: powerful results

By DrAlice|November 28, 2022|Mozart and Surgery: powerful results|0 Comments

Woman relaxed wearing headphones before surgery

Mozart is a composer that even non-musicians have probably heard of. And ever since the early 1990’s Mozart’s name has been associated with potential health benefits. “The Mozart Effect” was in media and print news around the world and CDs were created to play for babies both before and after birth. This lasted for about a decade and then faded away quite a bit.

A new study on music with surgery came out today

Until today! This morning a new study came out about the use of Mozart’s music during surgery and it’s exciting! The particular surgical procedure was a total thyroidectomy. The summary of this study states:

Purpose: Pain has always been a major concern in postoperative care. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of Mozart music on postoperative pain and physiological parameters in patients who underwent total thyroidectomy.

Methods: Patients scheduled for total thyroidectomy were randomly assigned to a music group or a control group. The music intervention was applied immediately after surgery, whereas the control group received only usual care. Measurements of pain perception and physiological parameters were performed before, during, and after the music intervention in the music group and at the same time points in the control group. Pain was evaluated with the visual analog scale.

Results: In a study population of 50 patients, a higher rate of decrease in pain was observed in the music group after the first 10 min of the music intervention compared to the control group (estimate = – 1.329; 95% CI [- 2.490, – 0.169]). Music also reduced respiratory rate by 1.31 rates/min more in the music group than in the control group at every assessment point (95% CI [- 2.171, – 0.451]). Changes in the remaining physiological parameters were not statistically significant between the music and the control group and within each group.

Conclusion: This study suggests that the use of music during immediate postoperative care after thyroidectomy could accelerate pain relief and lead to a greater decline of respiratory rate compared to that achieved in usual care.

Why Mozart? Would another composer or genre do as well?

I have already corresponded with the lead researcher of this study who is in Greece. We need to know what the specific piece by Mozart was as well as whether the music was delivered through headphones or ambiently (through speakers in the room.)

As a clinical musicologist, I would also like to know how they decided to used Mozart instead of another classical composer or how they decided on the specific composition by Mozart that they used. As medical-surgical science goes forward, we need lots of detail about how specifically music can help patients in the perioperative area.

The Opioid Crisis around the world is very much still alive and music is one of the EASY ways to decrease opioid usage during and after a surgery. Pain is always going to be a problem during and after surgery but rather than just “hope” you won’t get addicted, how about asking your surgeon and your hospital if they have our pre-loaded headphones ready and waiting for you. Many hospitals around the world have made these available for their patients. Here’s the link for your hospital to order.

If your hospital does not have them yet you can order a single pair for yourself! Just click here.

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