Blog - Page 16 of 39 - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Aug Aug 9, 2015

Pacemakers and Music: Information you should have!

By DrAlice|August 9, 2015|Benefits of music during surgery, Common Fears in Surgery, Pacemaker implantation|0 Comments

One of the primary function of a pacemaker is to restore functional rhythm to the human heart. Knowing what we know about rhythmic entrainment, what could be better for the patient that using a strong, steady, soothing rhythmic pulse during the pacemaker implantation process!

According to the the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute:

“Heart pacemakers, artificial joints, intraocular lenses, and other medical implants are widely used in the United States, where an estimated 8 to 10 percent of the population has a medical implant. However, medical implant recipients often have unrealistic expectations of the risks and benefits associated with those implants, a technology assessment panel convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has concluded.”

They continued:

“To address issues regarding patient expectations, the panel recommended that the informed consent process prior to receiving an implant include discussion of benefits, risks, potential complications, expected longevity of the device, need for follow up, and possible future examination of the implant. The panel also urged that attention be directed toward reducing legal and economic disincentives to medical implant retrieval and analysis.”

So, understandably, a person who is about to undergo a pacemaker implantation would be quite scared!! One of our Surgical Serenity Solutions customers had this to say, after his procedure was finished!

Aug Aug 8, 2015

Heart Surgery with Therapeutic Music

By DrAlice|August 8, 2015|Cardiac By-pass surgery with music, Common Fears in Surgery, Dangers and Side-effects of anesthesia|0 Comments

Nurses are using music in the ICU more than ever before.

The human heart is an amazing organ. It pumps soon after conception and is the last organ to stop functioning. There are hundreds of different heart surgeries that a human can undergo, but one of the most frequently performed is surgery heart bypass surgery. According to one hospital site:

The heart is also the body’s timekeeper. When it is nice and steady, we are probably in good health. When the heartbeat is too fast, too slow or too erratic, chances are your health is not good.

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the most common type of heart surgery. CABG improves blood flow to the heart. Surgeons use CABG to treat people who have severe coronary heart disease (CHD). CHD is a disease in which a waxy substance called plaque (plaque) builds up inside the coronary arteries.

An earlier version of our headphones was used for CABG in 1994 in Greenville, SC at Greenville Memorial Hospital. The patient was a 69-year old woman, with no known history of heart disease. This woman was my mother and she was honestly not that enthusiastic about using music with her surgery. She was quite frightened about whether or not she would even wake up from the surgery. After much reassurance that the music chosen for her would actually improve her chances of waking up. Even in 1994, the cardiac surgeon had no problem letting her take the headphones into surgery and said anything he could do to improve her chances of a successful surgery and a good recovery.

My mother had 5 by-passes in her heart and was in surgery for hours. When the surgery finally came to the waiting room and told my father and me that we could come back to recovery, we didn’t know what we might find. I fully expected her to be still sleeping and not able to talk, but to my surprise, when she saw me, she seemed to perk up. Then, the spoke weakly, but enthusiastically, “Oh Alice, the music was beautiful!! I’m so glad that I had that the entire time and I will never have surgery again without this music!”

No one was more surprised than I! This was over 20 years ago, and she’s 89 years old and doing quite well. She has had other surgeries since them including a serious hernia operation and hip replacement, but every time she has had the Serenity Headphones and she loves to tell everyone about her experience.

healthy resting heartbeat entrains to music through headphones

Patient enjoying serene music that entrains with healthy resting heartbeat

The surgeons said that her recovery time in the recovery room and at home was much less than expected and she said that among other things, the “headphones with beautiful music” kept her from hearing other nearby patients who were moaning and calling out for the nurse. That alone was worth it, she said.

Our headphones are in use around the world now and we get rave reviews on a regular basis.

If your hospital is ready to step into the world of 24/7 Music Medicine, go her NOW to order. Each started box of 25 headphones comes with a package of 50 pair of disposable earpiece covers. ORDER HERE.

Aug Aug 8, 2015

Music after Surgery: 3 things you will love!

By DrAlice|August 8, 2015|Benefits of music during surgery, Dangers and Side-effects of anesthesia, Fear and Anxiety about Surgery|0 Comments

Whether you’ve used music before and during your procedure or whether you are introduced to it in the recovery room, the powers of the music will help you greatly! There has been so much written about music in recovery that there is absolutely no doubt that it will help in many different ways, but the top three are:

1. You will likely experience a greatly decreased perception of pain.

2. You will likely experience a greatly decreased amount of nausea and vomiting.

3. You will likely be released first from the recovery room, and them from the hospital much sooner because you will have less pain medication in your system and will begin to feel “normal” a lot sooner.

A study entitled “The Effect of Music Therapy on Postoperative Pain, Heart Rate, Systolic Blood Pressure and Analgesic Use Following Nasal Surgery. ¹School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China reported that:
“The prevalence of unrelieved postoperative pain is high and may lead to adverse effects including prolonged hospitalization and delayed recovery. Distraction may be an effective pain-relieving strategy, and can be implemented by several means including affective imaging, games, and possibly music. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of music therapy on postoperative pain. Fifty-seven patients (24 females, 33 males; mean ± SD age 39.9 ± 14.35 years

[range 15 to 69 years] were matched for age and sex and then nonselectively assigned to either an experimental (n = 27) or a control (n = 30) group. Music was played intermittently to members of the experimental group during the first 24 hour postoperative period. Pain intensity was measured using the Pain Verbal Rating Scales (VRS). Significant decreases in pain intensity over time were found in the experimental group compared to the control group (p < 0.0001). In addition, the experimental group had a lower systolic blood pressure and heart rate, and took fewer oral analgesics for pain. These findings suggest that music therapy is an effective nonpharmacologic approach for postoperative pain management.”

With our Surgical Serenity Solution, we have observed patients with all kinds of surgeries, who have used music before, during, and after their procedure, get through the process faster and with fewer side-effects to the anesthesia and less nausea and vomiting afterwards. They’ve also needed less pain medication because music causes the patient to feel less pain. It’s been proven over and over for decades now.

If the hospital you’re going to doesn’t have music waiting for you, order the Surgical Serenity Solution now!

Aug Aug 7, 2015

Really?? Music DURING Surgery? Yes!!

By DrAlice|August 7, 2015|Anesthesia, Benefits of cordless headphones, Benefits of music during surgery, Characteristics of music for surgery|0 Comments

Recently, there has been a lot in the popular press (Huffington Post, etc) about the fact that so many surgeons play music during surgery and that it actually does help them to cut and stitch faster and more accurately. This is wonderful news! But is the patient just lying there, anesthetized, not aware of the surgeon’s music?

Anecdotal reports abound from patients who say that, even though they were under general anesthesia, they heard conversations that they wish they had not heard. Statements such as “oh, it’s worse than we thought,” or “this lady is not going to last very long with that tumor.” People report that, even under general anesthesia, they heard the drill, the hammers, and the saws that replaced the knee, the hip or the shoulder joints.

Not only do patients often hear these anxiety-provoking sounds, but their bodies do respond to the music that the surgeon is playing. Now there are many surgeons that play perfectly wondering music, but often it is upbeat and loud and with lyrics that are not positive in nature. One local surgeon was reported to play the Queen song, “Another One Bites the Dust!” I would be furious if I thought my surgeon was listening to that!

Now we have numerous studies that document benefits of music DURING surgery:

1. “Music Eases the Stress of Surgery” Damir Janigro, Neuroscientist, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

Results: Listening to melodic music decreased the activity of individual neurons in the deep brain, says Janigro, adding that the physical responses to the calming music ranged from patients’ closing their eyes to falling asleep. Some patients even settled into a nice round of snoring. And when lead neurosurgeon Ali Rezai needed patients to perform an action, such as lifting a limb, during the procedures, he simply removed their earphones and relayed instructions. Once the music resumed, patients returned to their snoozing

Conclusion: With the right music patients can be more relaxed in the operating room. And that relaxation may mean not only that procedures involve less medication — to control blood pressure, which increases with stress — but perhaps that patients have quicker recovery times and shorter hospital stays. Janigro anticipates that following institutional approval, music will be used during certain neurosurgical procedures at the clinic as early as 2010. He hopes other hospitals will soon follow Cleveland’s lead. “This type of surgery can be a traumatizing experience, and using music can decrease anxiety,” he notes.

2. ” Listening to Music decreases the Need for Sedative Medication during Colonoscopy” Department of Gastroenterology, Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode 673 008, Kerala Published: Indian J Gastroenterol. 2006 Jan-Feb;25(1):3-5

3. “How music therapy may benefit surgery patients” SCOPE blog of Stanford University School of Medicine.

The researchers (from the University of Kentucky, Dept of Music Therapy) say that music selected by trained personnel is preferred because specific guidelines should be followed to maximize the positive effect on patients, however the patient’s musical tastes should still be considered.

The researchers suggest that several playlists be offered so the patient can choose the one that best suits their tastes.

The researchers also note that the tempo, rhythm and volume of the music should be carefully controlled to maximize the positive effect. Calm, slow, gentle music was shown to produce the most positive results and facilitate relaxation and pain reduction in patients, they said.

– See more at: http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2012/11/20/how-music-therapy-may-benefit-surgery-patients/#sthash.mYSPtnPW.dpuf

Tomorrow’s post will review the use of music during recovery!

Aug Aug 6, 2015

Have you seen the research? Check it out! Pre-surgical music results

By DrAlice|August 6, 2015|Benefits of cordless headphones, Benefits of music during surgery, Fear and Anxiety about Surgery, Fear of anesthesia|0 Comments

When I was designing the choosing the music that I felt would be most helpful pre-surgery, I had three primary goals:

Calm the patient to reduce anxiety medication
Provide calming music through comfortable, lightweight headphones to decrease external negative stimuli
Calm the patient with soothing, steady music, so that when they get to surgery, they will need less anesthesia, having been significantly calmed through the music

Apparently, I am not the only one who has thought of that; there are quite a few studies out there on this exact thing and I would like to give you the citations for some of the best of them.

Music Benefits on Postoperative Distress and Pain in Pediatric Day Care Surgery
The Effect of Music on Pre-operative sedation and the Bi-Spectral Index (Anesthesia and Analgesia 2005 Jul; 101)
Relaxing Music as Pre-medication before surgery (Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2009 Jul:53)

All of these studies were looking at calming and relaxing the patient before surgery with music, and all achieved this goal! With increased emphasis on patient satisfaction and non-chemical interventions, the Surgical Serenity Solution is destined to be in hospitals around the world within the next decade!

Yes, there is lots of different pre-existing music that would fill the bill, and yes, you can create your own playlist and take it into surgery on an iPod. But why not let a clinical musicologist do it for you? I’ve spent nearly 50 years of my life studying all kinds of music and the effect it has on the human body. I’ve put it on lightweight cordless headphones for you and they’re ready to go! iPods are covered with germs, unless you buy yourself a brand-new one. Also the cord that connects it to ear-buds or corded headphones can get tangled with other OR equipment and block the airway if an emergency emergency airway needs to be created.

The proof is there! Get your headphones now!

Aug Aug 5, 2015

Damaging Effects of Cortisol: yes, YOUR body makes it too!

By DrAlice|August 5, 2015|Benefits of music during surgery, Music and Anesthesia|0 Comments

What does CORTISOL have to do with surgery?! Cortisol is produced in the body as a direct response to stress and it has damaging effects on your body organs. When most people find that they are going to have to have surgery, they immediately feel a tremendous surge of stress and that stress caused an immediate surge of cortisol through the body. The damaging effects of cortisol can be mitigated by the use of soothing, steady, purely instrumental music, played through cordless headphones.

According to many doctors, cortisol can do everything from ravage and break down internal organs to lowering the immune system, to causing inflammation in the body, to producing more belly fat and breaking down muscle. We all produce cortisol, but the less we produce the better off we are!

Music therapy and music medicine have been studied extensively in regard to their ability to decrease the amount of cortisol a body produces in different stressful events. Specifically, I’ve looked for studies documenting music’s ability to decrease cortisol production in surgical patients. Here is a recent one that shows music’s power in this particular setting.

Effects of Music Listening on Cortisol Levels and Propofol Consumption during Spinal Anesthesia

Stefan Koelsch,^1,^2,^* Julian Fuermetz,^2,³ Ulrich Sack,⁴ Katrin Bauer,⁵ Maximilian Hohenadel,² Martin Wiegel,³ Udo X. Kaisers,³ and Wolfgang Heinke³

To read the entire study, go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3110826/

The authors conclusion is : Our data show that listening to music during surgery under regional anesthesia has effects on cortisol levels (reflecting stress-reducing effects) and reduces sedative requirements to reach light sedation.

This is the reason that the Surgical Serenity Solution exists!! If YOUR patients do not have access to Surgical Serenity pre-loaded headphones, go NOW to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/hospitalheadphones and purchase our headsets in 5 different genres of therapeutic music, sequenced by a clinical musicologist. To hear samples, go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/calmhttps://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/calm.

Aug Aug 4, 2015

The Magic of Rhythmic Entrainment

By DrAlice|August 4, 2015|Benefits of cordless headphones, Benefits of music during surgery, Characteristics of music for surgery, Rhythmic entrainment|0 Comments

Have you heard of rhythmic entrainment? Most people have not, but it is at the heart of the Surgical Serenity Solution. It may sound complicated and mysterious, but actually, it’s quite straightforward! You know how you feel when you walk into a room and some really powerful, rhythmic music is playing? Or you’re sitting in a concert and one of your favorite upbeat songs starts playing. You cannot resist moving to that music! It sucks you in and you’re happy when you start to move to it! THAT is rhythmic entrainment. It was so-named back in the 17th century when it was discovered in a lab by a Dutch scientist named Christian Huygens.

Huygens observed in his laboratory that metronomes set to ticking would eventually all be ticking together! Rhythmic entrainment is so powerful that it happens with inanimate objects as well as with living beings, human and animal. It is a VERY powerful phenomenon!

The human body tends to entrain with any powerful rhythm that is in their environment. Even when that rhythm is erratic, as in an MRI machine, the body tries to find a pattern that makes sense with some. The body easily entrains with a steady, strong beat. That’s why music that has a stead 4/4 beat is so easy to march or clap to. Classic rock is full of strong 4/4 tempos. What does this have to do with the Surgical Serenity Solution?

The reason is that rhythmic entrainment works with a slow pulse as well as a fast one. Again, whether the body is aleep or awake, the heart and breathing will tend to synchronize with a strong, steady pulse, entering the brain through the 8th cranial nerve. The music comes through lightweight, cordless headphones and works like a charm. So far, we’ve had people from all over the U.S., Canada and many European countries, Australia and New Zealand, order and successfully use the Surgical Serenity Solution! Will you be next?

Aug Aug 3, 2015

The Surgical Serenity Solution works!! Here’s the proof!

By DrAlice|August 3, 2015|Aeortic Abdominal Aneurysm, Benefits of cordless headphones, Benefits of music during surgery|0 Comments

I understand. If you’re going to spend almost $200 on something to help you have a more successful surgery, you really want to know that it works! Do we have proof? Yes! We have proof that our Surgical Serenity Solution has help hundreds of people to get through difficult surgeries with less anxiety and less pain. You can hear some of the patients talking about their experiences here:

https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/testimonials/video-testimonials/

Not only have our patients raved about the headphones, but we have surgeons and anesthesiologists who are pleasantly surprised at the benefit the patients are reporting after a variety of procedures ranging from a C-section to major heart surgery and joint replacement surgeries. Listen to the actual patients describing what the experience was like for then!

https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/testimonials/video-testimonials/

Aug Aug 3, 2015

What IS the Surgical Serenity Solution?

By DrAlice|August 3, 2015|Rhythmic entrainment, Surgery Music, surgery preparation, Surgery with Music Case Histories|0 Comments

You’ve probably just found out that you, or a loved one, needs to have have surgery. No one WANTS to have surgery, but sometimes you just can’t get better without it. You may have heard that using music during surgery can improve the outcomes; make the overall results better. This is where the Surgical Serenity Solution comes in. The Surgical Serenity Solution is a method for having the ideal slow, steady, soothing, purely instrumental music playing for the patient through cordless, lightweight headphones. They were conceived of by a clinical musicologist, with years of experience helping surgical patients choose their ideal music.

Eight years later, hundreds of people have used our method and headphones for surgeries of all kinds, and with outstanding results. Dozens of studies are out there, documenting music’s power to reduce, anxiety, amount of anesthesia needed, and pain perception afterwards. Not only that, but when you have less anesthesia and less pain medication but also have less nausea and vomiting and you go home a lot sooner.

The Surgical Serenity Solution is gradually spreading around the country and the globe. Get this solution for yourself! You’ll be so glad you did. Check out the patient testimonials here: https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/testimonials/.

Jul Jul 29, 2015