Blog - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Jun Jun 2, 2019

Choosing the best music for the patient having surgery

By DrAlice|June 2, 2019|Choosing the best music for surgery, New mobile app for surgery, Wearing headphones in surgery|0 Comments

music can be heard while under anesthesia

Patient sleeping after Propofol

In June of 2019, the use of music for the patient having surgery is an accepted and proven-effective idea! Study after study has come out, documenting the benefits of music for the patient and especially, music through headphones for the patient DURING the actual surgical procedure. Why? Because also in June of 2019, music for the SURGEON is also commonplace and is more often the norm than the exception.

Dozens of patients have awakened from surgery and reported to me that they had heard the conversations of the people in the operating room and many of them, found it to be disconcerting at the least, and insulting, at the worst! Patients also report that the doctor was playing music that they didn’t care for and, on top of their anxiety and fear, it was just too much.

That is why we created the Surgical Serenity Solutions pre-loaded headphones and now the SSS mobile app! All of our music has the ability to quickly engage rhythmic entrainment, which synchronizes the patients natural body rhythms (breathing and heartbeat) to the pulse of the music. We created this purely instrumental music in five different genres, so that there will be at least two, hour-long playlists that every patient will probably like and be very comfortable with.

And with our mobile app, the hospital can subscribe to all five playlists, or the individual patient can purchase one of more playlists for their upcoming surgical or dental procedure. If you have an upcoming procedure, you can test our mobile app by going to https://surgicalserenitysolutions.com/app2 and let us know what you think. Any ideas, suggestions or criticisms would be welcome.

We are hoping to eventually create dozens of these playlists for people and cultures around the world, but we need your feedback. The above link is for the iPhone, but if you have an Android, go to https://surgicalserenitysolutions.com/app4Andr.

We look forward to receiving your feedback!

May May 20, 2019

Calming Fear and Anxiety with our New Mobile App

By DrAlice|May 20, 2019|Fear and Anxiety before Surgery, Music for surgery mobile app|0 Comments

calm anxiety with soothing, therapeutic music

Have you ever experienced fear and anxiety before a medical procedure or a visit to the dentist? As a therapist, I know the number of people who struggle with almost crippling fear of a doctor or a dentist. Some people actually have undergone some terrible experiences in a hospital or clinic, but some people have only heard about it and it has the same, anxiety-producing effect.

Now, we have created a mobile app that actually gives you access to five different, soothing playlists that you can listen to through your own Bluetooth headphones or earbuds. Or you can plug your own regular headphones or earbuds into your phone.

Hospitals are letting people bring in their music on their own phones more and more and they simply put the phone in a disposable surgical cap or a rubber glove and put it under that gurney on the shelf with other personal belongings. The advantages of this new method are many:

No need to purchase another set of headphones for patient.
No need for hospital to purchase headphones and find storage space
No need for hospital or patient to worry about remembering headphones the day of surgery

At the same times, you will access to our music that has proven over and over again that it:

Reduces pain perception
Calms anxiety that patient feels before and during procedure
Reduces the amount of medication patient requires for anxiety
Often reduces the amount of anesthesia
Reduces that amount of addictive opioids that patient needs after the surgery

Our new mobile app will soon be available for both iPhone and Androids. We are in the final stages of beta testing and if you want to try our phone, just click on the links below, download the free testing app for iPhone, TestFlight, and then click on this link: https://surgicalserenitysolutions.com/app2

Or for the Android phone: https://surgicalserenitysolutions.com/app4Andr

We will always provide our tried and true pre-loaded headphones for those that want an immediate solution and need it quickly, or simply for those that are less “techy!”

As always, if I can answer any questions for you and troubleshoot problems, contact me here or at DrAlice@SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com.

To your sound health!!

May May 2, 2019

Professional Ballerina gets ankle replacement using Surgical Serenity Solutions headphones

By DrAlice|May 2, 2019|Ankle Replacement, Ballerina|0 Comments

Helen Starr has had a fabulous career in the world of classical ballet, dancing with famous male partners such as Mikhail Baryshnikov and many others. Naturally, professional ballerinas are very hard on their bodies, and especially their joints, with the hours and hours of training that they do and the jumping, running, and dancing on point.

So I was not surprised when I got a call from Helen Starr, telling me that she was going to have an ankle replacement and would like to use the Surgical Serenity Solutions headphones to help calm her before and during the surgery, and to reduce pain perception afterwards. Ankle surgery has not been available for nearly as long as knee and hip replacement, so the patient has fewer options of where to go for the procedure.

She told me that she had had a knee replacement about 9 years previously and the hospital had offered her classical music on headphones, but she needed to go to a different hospital for the ankle procedure and they did not offer any kind of music during surgery. She needed the surgery to get her ankle replaced and so she had heard about Surgical Serenity and wanted to try our headphones.

I was able to get her the headphones about a week in advance and instructed her to lie down for 30-40 minutes every afternoon with the headphones, learning to relax and let go of muscle tension when she heard this specific music. She was a very good patient and did this faithfully, and it paid off. When I saw her after surgery she said that things had gone extremely well and that she listened to the Serenity classical playlist before they took her back, through the surgery, and into the recovery area. She told me that the doctors and nurses at this hospital were fascinated by the headphones and how the music was already loaded onto them, so that no bluetooth streaming was necessary or no cords were attached.

Of course, this is what I wish for everyone. So please help us get the word to patients, doctors and hospitals. www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com.

Feb Feb 26, 2019

Using the new Surgical Serenity Solutions app

By DrAlice|February 26, 2019|Headphones vs Earbuds, Mobile App for Surgical Serenity|0 Comments

We are so excited to be offering five different Surgical Serenity Solutions playlists in our new mobile app! We believe this will allow us to focus

Jan Jan 12, 2019

Can Children Wear the Surgical Serenity Solutions headphones?

By DrAlice|January 12, 2019|Children and SSS Headphones, Headphones for other medical procedures|0 Comments

If you have children in your home, then you know that going to the doctor or pediatrician for a well checkup, a sick visit, or an immunization can be difficult. Children learn at an early age what “getting a shot” means, and they don’t like it! What can you do to ease the intensity of this experience and help children (and their parents) get through it with as little upset as possible?

As a therapist and a music medicine practitioner, I am around children and their families on a daily basis. So I thought I would do a little experiment! A little 6 year-old girl that I know, really does not like going to the doctor’s office to get a shot. There are no words to convince her that it’s not going to hurt, and even promises of ice cream or toys cannot make her dislike this experience. I wondered if giving her some of Serenity Headphones make ease the experience for her and for her mother, as well as the doctor!

When a child comes into a medical facility already crying, kicking, and trying to run away from staff, it’s disruptive and upsetting for everyone. I’ve seen this happening many times! (Not my children, of course!) It doesn’t take a lot of crying, squealing, or screaming to feed the overall anxiety level and before you know it, other children are crying and trying to get away. And so I offered my friend “Rosie. age 6″ the opportunity to take some headphones with her. I explained that the music was intended to calm and comfort her and that if she closed her eyes and focused on the music, it probably would not hurt at all!”

Here is what she said:

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

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|2 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.