Blog - Page 8 of 40 - Surgical Serenity Solutions

Aug Aug 5, 2020

The Neuro-chemistry of Music

By DrAlice|August 5, 2020|Neurochemistry of Music|0 Comments

The neuro-chemistry of music is endlessly fascinating to me! People have loved music for thousands and thousands of years. We know intuitively that music can cause us to feel a huge range of emotions…ecstacy and thrills, to devastion and pain. What would romance be without its songs and what would worship and spiritual life be without its songs? Imagine an army marching into war without pipes and drums, trumpets and clarinets!

For hundreds of years, no one knew exactly HOW or WHY music elicited all of these emotions…just that it does and we are so happy about that! At the end of the 20th century, finally scientists began to have the tools to look at the brain in a whole new way. This is when brain research began to really accelerate. Neuro-chemistry books, articles and research are easy to find. All you have to do is search for Brain Chemicals and music, to find dozens and dozens of studies on the brain and music.

As a blogger and a music researcher myself, I keep close tabs on what brings people to my blogs and my sites. I am interested to know what other people want to know and understand about the healing power of music. Earlier today, I was looking at some of this analytic information and I saw that someone had come to my brain and music blog by searching for “is there scientific evidence on music raising endorphins?” When I searching for the same, I came across so many fascinating NEW studies that have just been done in the past 3-5 years One of the best ones is http://www.bbc.com/news/health-12135590, “Music Turns on Feel-good chemicals in the Brain.” This appeared on the BBC website.’

Another great one is https://www.wired.com/2011/01/the-neuroscience-of-music/, “The Neuroscience of Music.” If you’ve always wanted to understand more about how music works in our brains and in our bodies. start with these two articles, and then get into the 200-300+ blog posts here in my blog. There’s nothing more fascinating to those of us who love music as the lifeblood of our lives. If you’re looking for a career that will benefit nearly anyone in the world, think about going into music therapy, or into science and then neuroscience! I’m available to consult if you’re interested! DrAlice@HealingMusicEnterprises.com.

When people listen to their favorite music, serotonin, dopamine, and other “feel-good” chemicals are released. When people listen to their favorite soothing, calming music, the relaxation neuropeptides are released. (called GABA). We now offer five, hour-long playlists that incorporate rhythmic entrainment and are proven effective and calming the anxious mind and body and decreasing medication requirements. Go NOW to wwwSurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/calm.

Jul Jul 30, 2020

Surgical Serenity Solutions Hospital Consulting is Now Open for Business!

By DrAlice|July 30, 2020|Music Medicine|0 Comments

Dr Cash consults with hospitals around the world.

I’ve been selling pre-loaded headphones to hospitals and patients for a about 11 years now. I’ve really learned a lot about how hospitals operate, how their purchasing departments work and especially about how excited the surgeons and anesthesiologists get when they find that there is a well-researched product that they can use in order to get better surgical outcomes using music.

But you know that this is not just any music. While some hospitals continue to play music through speakers in the OR, many more are realizing that the patient needs to have their own slow, soothing music coming through headphones. They have now learned about the power of rhythmic entrainment and are wanting to provide this to their patients.

This is why my Music Medicine consulting has been launched. I am proposing to present a webinar for hospitals that will present an overview of all that Music Medicine can offer in a hospital, not only in surgery, but also in Pain Management, Labor and Delivery, Oncology, Behavioral Health and more. Hospitals can start out with one year of licensing our 5 playlists, and get 5-10 hours of consulting.

Or they could purchase 5-10 hours of consulting and get a free year of our licensed music. I am starting out at a very reasonable price for each hospital, based on the number of beds they have. I highly recommend starting with either Surgery or Pain Management. Here’s the form to fill out if you are interested: https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/contact-us-licensing/

Every day, more and more research is published about the benefits of music with surgery and anesthesia. To read some of the most recent ones, click here: https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/medical-research/.

One of the things that I teach physicians and other healthcare professionals about is the difference between Music Therapy and Music Medicine. In a nutshell, music therapy must be administered by a board-certified music therapist, who works one-on-one with the patient. Music Medicine can be administered by any healthcare professional who understands the basics of rhythmic entrainment and musical taste.

With our five rhythmic entrainment playlists, you have three playlists for surgery, one for children, newborns and preemies, and one for patients over 70-99. All of these playlists have been used with thousands of patients for calming effects. They can be streamed to Bluetooth headphones or used with wired headphones and a smartphone or MP3 player. I’m already working with hospitals around the world and am excited about creating a Music Medicine System for YOUR hospital.

You can email me anytime at DrAlice@SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com.

Jun Jun 2, 2020

I’d like to invite you to be part of my Music Medicine group on Facebook!

By DrAlice|June 2, 2020|Music with Surgery, Surgery with Music|2 Comments

About a week ago I decided it was high time to create a group for people that believe in the power of music during surgery and other medical procedures. I started out by posting some of the most powerful research studies, videos and testimonials who have used Surgical Serenity Solutions to get through their procedure. I’ve already got almost 100 user, but I’d really like to have YOU!! If you’re already on Facebook just click below, so that we might answer your questions, as well as benefit from your experience! Thanks!

Music Medicine for Hospital and Surgery Centers and their patients

Private group · 32 members

Join Group

May May 1, 2020

How Music Can Help with Covid-19 patients in the ICU

By DrAlice|May 1, 2020|Covid-19 and Music Medicine|0 Comments

Can music actually make a difference in patients suffering from Covid-19? Of course! Music can help almost anyone who responds positively to music. Of course taste in music must be considered. Some people can respond positively to many different types of music and others can only tolerate a very specific types of music.The important thing is to offer the patient a choice of soothing music and then provide it to them through Bluetooth headphones or earbuds.

We know that music provides a pleasant distraction to humans. Whether it’s familiar or unfamiliar doesn’t always matter, but when you’re lying in a hospital with a high fever and having trouble breathing, music can definitely help calm you down while you’re waiting for the medical treatment to start helping.

There have actually been many medical studies conducted on the benefits of music therapy for people on ventilators and the results are almost always beneficial. Music with a slow, steady rhythm has the ability to affect the body physiologically and calm the symptoms of anxiety such as extremely tense muscles, rapid, shallow breathing, and racing pulse and heartbeat.

All of these physiological symptoms make the thoughts race too, and usually the negative thoughts take over, which then increases the physiological symptoms. Putting on headphones with soothing music can definitely break this cycle.

Right now, patients can download one or all of our therapeutic playlists at www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/buyanapp. These apps are available in

Classical
Smooth Jazz
New Age
Lullabies
Memory Care

These playlists are already being used around the world and are bringing patients much-needed relief from the bad feelings that we experience when ill in the hospital. We also have recommeneded Bluetooth headphones on our website so that you can have your own headset and streaming playlists even if you’re recovering at home.

I’ve seen patients put on our headphones for the first time, over and over, and a big smile comes over their face and a huge sigh of relief! Our calming, soothing music, entering the brain through the 8th cranial nerve, is just what they need at this moment and can decrease or even eliminate the need for more powerful medication. Click HERE now to get yourself either the pre-loaded headphones or some recommended Bluetooth headphones. Then click HERE to download one or ALL of the 5 soothing playlists!

Apr Apr 24, 2020

Last-minute chance to get my new book on Music with Surgery—complimentary for YOU

By DrAlice|April 24, 2020|Download the Music with Surgery book now|0 Comments

Just wanted to let all of my readers know that until midnight tonight, not sure whether it’s EST or PST. Anyway, go NOW to Click Here. You do not need a coupon or any special code. Just be sure you have the free Kindle app and you’re ready to go!

If you like the book and are interested in getting more information about Music as Medicine, just send me your confirmation email, and I’ll send you another bonus that will help you implement a music intervention with any medical/dental procedure on your horizon. But hurry now to Amazon!

Dr Cash’s book on surgery

Apr Apr 13, 2020

The value of music for reducing anxiety in critically ill patients on ventilators

By DrAlice|April 13, 2020|Covid-19 and Music Medicine|0 Comments

I’m writing this during the Covid-19 pandemic. People around the world are in ICUs on mechanical ventilators. Imagine how terrifying that must be! There are dozens of research studies that show that listening to music while in an ICU can reduce the anxiety of these patients.

For example, here is an article published in JAMA in 2015.

Doctors and medical facilities can do a lot for patient anxiety by providing music for them that is suitable for relaxation. One problem that they face is that using a personal Pandora or Spotify account isn’t legal for use for multiple patients.

Cataract Surgery with Bluetooth headphones and Surgical Serenity Lullaby playlist

Patients in an ICU setting can greatly benefit from soothing music through headphones.

Also, headphones significantly help patients to mute outside sounds and therefore help reduce anxiety. Although medical facilities worry about bringing in headphones that aren’t sterile, there are ways to manage this situation, such as giving each patient his or her own headphone or using disposable earpiece covers.

These are times unlike most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Anything we can do to help an individual with Covid-19 we need to do.

Our company, Surgical Serenity Solutions has a complete kit for providing patients in an ICU with the music they need. Here to learn more about it!

Hospitals can now consult with Surgical Serenity Solutions about how to incorporate Music Medicine into their hospital procedures.

Consulting for Hospitals that want to integrate Music Medicine:

Today, hospitals around the world are recognizing the many, powerful benefits that music can bring to their patients. New research is coming out every week on the powerful benefits of Music Medicine, which is pre-recorded music especially chosen to reduce anxiety and pain perception, listened to with headphones or earbuds. Dr Cash has spoken and consulted with hospitals around the world and can help YOUR hospital get up to speed with this cost-effective and powerful intervention. Patient satisfaction scores rocket when soothing music through personal headphones is introduced. Doctors love it too, because patients are discharged faster with fewer re-admissions.

We have three options for medical facilities:

Headphones that are pre-loaded with any one of our five playlist genres. You can choose the genre for each of the headphones. Click here to purchase
License the five playlists for streaming to patient headphones or bluetooth earbuds. Click here to contact us for terms and prices
We also have a 12-headphone package that includes earphone covers and a variety of pre-loaded genres. Click here to purchase.

In the meantime, stay well, if you possibly can!

Mar Mar 30, 2020

Surgical Serenity Jazz Playlist is Creating “Buzz”

By DrAlice|March 30, 2020|Anesthesia, Benefits of music during surgery, Jazz for Anxiety, Jazz for Pain Management, Jazz for Surgery, Surgery with Music Research|0 Comments

As soon as I wrote that title, I thought “Hmmm…maybe people could misinterpret that “buzz” word. Of course what I’m talking about is that our Jazz playlists for surgery is getting lots of acclaim. A lady contacted me last night saying that she had begun to run a low-grade fever and was feeling puny and depressed about the Covid-19 virus. She decided to download one of the Serenity playlists and said that she couldn’t believe how soothing and comforting it was! I wish I had recorded the phone call because she mentioned several things like “better than Valium” and how the saxophone just carried her to a whole different place where everything was beautiful and healthy and optimistic. This was really exciting for me to hear because the Jazz Playlist is the only one that I specifically commissioned for Surgical Serenity since Jazz is not style that I play. Dozens have people have told me that they really do love it and that it is a “Go-To” when anxiety hits! To get a download of the playlist, go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/buyanapp.

Speaking to Drs about the power of rhythmic entrainment.

The instruments in this playlist are Piano, Saxophone, String Bass, and light drums with brushes. The musicians are all international Jazz professionals with 30+ years experience each. No wonder it turned out so well! But the real key to why all of playlists work so well is that ingredient of rhythmic entrainment. An article in “Science Direct” quotes these facts about rhythmic entrainment from:

•

Rhythmic entrainment represents an affect induction mechanism.
•: Rhythmic entrainment occurs on the perceptual, autonomic, motor, and social level.
•: The basal ganglia play a key role in the link of rhythmic entrainment and affect.
•: Rhythmic entrainment supposedly induces positive valence and social dispositions.

Abstract

One especially important feature of metrical music is that it contains periodicities that listeners’ bodily rhythms can adapt to. Recent psychological frameworks have introduced the notion of rhythmic entrainment, among other mechanisms, as an emotion induction principle. In this review paper, we discuss rhythmic entrainment as an affect induction mechanism by differentiating four levels of entrainment in humans—perceptual, autonomic physiological, motor, and social—all of which could contribute to a subjective feeling component. We review the theoretical and empirical literature on rhythmic entrainment to music that supports the existence of these different levels of entrainment by describing the phenomena and characterizing the associated underlying brain processes. The goal of this review is to present the theoretical implications and empirical findings about rhythmic entrainment as an important principle at the basis of affect induction via music, since it rests upon the temporal dimension of music, which is a specificity of music as an affective stimulus.

So, although I certainly didn’t invent or discover rhythmic entrainment, Surgical Serenity Solutions was the first company to apply these principles to the surgical experience! Get these playlists NOW at www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/buyanapp.

Please let me know your questions or comments!

Mar Mar 25, 2020

Surgery with Music Blog Series, Post #18: Doctors from Major Hospitals believe in Surgery with Music

By DrAlice|March 25, 2020|30-day blog series, Doctors believe in benefits of music and surgery|0 Comments

Dr. David Friedman and Dr. Alice Cash

Many people want to know if doctors from major hospitals believe in surgery with music. And the answer is…yes they do! Why? Because not only are there literally hundreds of studies documenting the decreases in patient anxiety, pain perception and anesthesia/sedation requirements, but doctors have seen with their own eyes what happens when a patient is listening to soothing music through headphones during the procedure.

One of my proudest moments was when I received an invitation from Cleveland Clinic Florida in 2011 to speak to their weekly Grand Rounds for Surgeons and Anesthesiologists! I was honored to speak to a full house of surgeons and anesthesiologists and many, many of them had questions for me.

One of the biggest factors in my proprietary music is that component of rhythmic entrainment. Physicians want to understand this 300-hundred year old named phenomenon which is a principle in physics. Once they understand that this applies to the rhythms in the human body as well as other vibrating objects such as pendulums, and metronomes, it is easy to see that music with a slow, steady pulse can entrain the heartbeat and breathing. When a patient is waiting for surgery, they often have rapid heartbeat and breathing. The music, through headphones, stabilizes the heartbeat and breathing and in the process, the patient begins to stabilize and then require less anxiety medication, less anesthesia and less pain medication afterwards! It’s a win-win for everyone!

And yes, they are also in use at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN in their post-cardiac care unit! The nurses there say that patients love the pre-loaded headphones and the soothing piano music that they hear.

Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has been using one of our Cloud Kits for a couple of years now with surgical patients as well as endoscopies and endoscopies. Patients and doctors both report a calmer pre-surgery area as well as a calmer and quieter post-surgical recovery area. When Patients listen to our proprietary music all the way through their procedure, they typically recover faster and with fewer side-effects as a direct result of less medication throughout the process.

To download our five proprietary playlists, go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/buyanapp. To purchase my new book, “Having Surgery? Using Music to Decrease Anxiety and Pain Perception,” go to www.SurgicalSerenitySolutions.com/SurgeryBook. Stay healthy!

Mar Mar 14, 2020

Surgery with Music: Bluetooth or Preloaded Headphones Post #19

By DrAlice|March 14, 2020|30-day blog series|0 Comments

These headphones can be paired with our streaming surgery playlists or be pre-loaded with one of our 5 playlists.

Hello friends! If you are scheduled for surgery, dental work, or any anxiety-provoking medical procedures, then you are like considering using our Bluetooth or pre-loaded headphones. My question to you is, which would you prefer?

Today, you have more choices than ever before. Let me tell you a little about the benefits of each.

Pre-loaded headphones:

These headphones have micro-SD card slot in the headphone ear cups that can be loaded with our Classical Blend playlist, the Jazz playlist, the New Age playlist, the Lullaby playlist, or the Memory Care playlist. These headphones also have Bluetooth capability, but when we load the SD card we recommend that you not use the Bluetooth function. The headphones that are preloaded will cost a little more.

Bluetooth headphones:

This will be a high-quality Bluetooth headphones, but instead of being pre-loaded with our rhythmic entrainment music, you will use Bluetooth to stream one of purchased playlists from your Smartphone. You need to be sure to let your doctor know that you plan to use therapeutic, rhythmic entrainment music during your procedure.Most physicians will be more than happy to allow you to bring music to your procedure than will calm and comfort you. Anxiety is one of the first things that hospitals give you medication for when you arrive for your procedure, but when your have the Surgical Serenity music and headphones, you will likely be as calm and relaxed as they want you to be.

Headphones for Children

For the toddler or young child who is feeling ill or preparing for surgery! An absolute delight!

And for the first time ever, we will have a children’s headset. I am particularly excited about this headset because it will come pre-loaded with our Lullaby playlist and be ideal for the child who is not feeling well, hospitalized, or just needs some quiet time to calm down. These adorable Kitty-Kat ear headphones will delight both parent and child. This playlist is pre-loaded with 23 classic lullabies and will repeat continuously until it’s turned off! I have a very limited number of these available but will ship you one of these if you’ll contact me here or go to www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/products/

I’ll probably be blogging a little more than usual as a result of staying home for “social distancing” so stay up to date on your choices for using music to deal with anxiety. As always, let me know your questions too!

Jan Jan 21, 2020

Surgery with Music Blog Series, #17 “What do Hospital Administrators say about Our new book?”

By DrAlice|January 21, 2020|30-day blog series, Anxiety and Pain Perception|0 Comments

In the last 15 or 20 years, so much has been published in medical journals about the benefits for the patient of music during surgery. When the patient is listening to music that incorporates rhythmic entrainment, through headphones, wonderful things begin to happen! My colleagues in music therapy were very insistent that I offer some kind of choice in types of music to the patients. Initially, the playlist was 50 minutes of classical piano music. Of course I thought it was beautiful but not everyone likes classical music. So, o.”ur second playlist was Smooth Jazz. This was a playlist put together by jazz musicians friends of mine and it does incorporate rhythmic entrainment. Then my friend Jonathan Goldman offered me a playlist of his beautiful New Age music that utilizes rhythmic entrainment.

Finally, I decided that the best way to disseminate all of the information about the power of music with surgery would be to write a book. In December of 2019 I published “Having Surgery? Using Music to reduce Anxiety and Pain Perception.” I am doing the official “launch” of this book on January 27, Mozart’s birthday! For a 3-day period you’ll be able to get my book for $1.99!!

Here is what a Vice-President of a hospital wrote:

Dr Cash’s book on surgery

It is rare to find a book that is as beneficial to clinicians as it is to patients and their caregivers. Dr. Alice Cash’s Music for Surgery & Recovery: A Sound Approach to Reduced Anxiety and Faster Healing is such a work. Laying out findings from her years of dedication to this field, Dr. Cash combines a wealth of useful advice, instructive and inspiring personal and patient stories, and perspectives on research. The result? A clear demonstration of how the experience of music correctly applied around the time of surgery and in other stressful situations can enhance resilience and improve both clinical outcomes and quality of life.

As head of clinical research, I worked with hospital administration for over two decades. The possibilities of music decreasing pain perception, especially in this time of the opioid crisis, and of increasing patient satisfaction, which is critically important to reimbursement, is especially exciting.

The organization of the book – moving from well-grounded practical advice for a wide variety of clinical scenarios to the history and science of music medicine to ways in which music can be integrated into medical environments – provides an engaging way both of going deeply into practice and theory and of finding needed concepts and specifics quickly and easily. Kudos to Dr. Cash!