Music soothes the soul, reduces anxiety in surgery
Tailor choice of music to patient and to setting
He receives requests for certain songs. People bring their own CDs for him to play. And there are days that everyone in the room is tapping their toes.
No, he's not a local disc jockey entertaining a group at a special event. He's a ophthalmologic surgeon.
"I started playing music 17 years ago during my residency, and I haven't stopped," says Jamie Zucker, MD, an ophthalmologic surgeon in Canton, OH. "My patients are awake during surgery, so music gives them something to focus upon, other than the surgery, and it relaxes them," he says.
The music fits in with his casual style in which he talks with the patient during surgery and tries to create an atmosphere of relaxation and calm, Zucker adds. "I don't play hard rock, and I don't play any music that is loud," he emphasizes. "Most of my music includes Frank Sinatra and big band music." While he's never had a patient complain about his music, he has some patients who bring their own CDs in for him to play during their surgery. "Whatever reduces their anxiety is fine with me," Zucker adds.
The hospital surgery department and the outpatient centers at which he performs surgery all have a sound system to enable surgeons to play music, says Zucker. While the technology exists for personal music players to plug into some systems, it always is a good idea to keep a stock of CDs with you, he suggests. "I do keep my iPod with me as well because it does contain so many more songs," he adds.
The legal department at Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, wasn't sure about copyright laws related to iPods and other personal music players, so the perioperative staff stuck with CDs for its music program for surgery patients. Known as CALM, an acronym for Calming Anxieties through Listening to Music, the program has been in place for almost two years. "We know that research has shown that music reduces anxiety and distracts patients from pain," says Andy Zarrelli, RN, RN care manager at the hospital. "We started with an eight-week evaluation of the program to see if our plans would work and if the reaction of patients and parents was positive," she explains.
Not only was the reaction to the pilot program positive, but also the hospital is looking at expanding the program to its family waiting room, and the hospital marketing department is planning to include the program in marketing efforts, says Zarrelli.
"We started by purchasing 30 CD players and 30 pillow speakers [manufactured by C. Crane, Fortuna, CA]," she reports. Small pillow speakers that hang in a pouch on the bed were chosen when the infection control department expressed concern about using headphones that could not be cleaned adequately, she says. "If a patient brings in his or her own CD player and headphones, that is OK," Zarrelli adds.
A combination of different types of music CDs purchased with a donation of a few hundred dollars from a local community group and CDs donated by families formed the beginning of the CD library. "We listened to all of the CDs, paying close attention to lyrics, then we classified each one," she says. A simple color code system is used to designate type of music such as country or gospel, as well as the range of ages most likely to enjoy the music, she says. A supply of rechargeable batteries was purchased, and volunteers in the surgery department as well as staff members make sure that there are always fresh batteries in the players and other batteries are being charged, says Zarrelli.
'Works best with less paperwork'
Checkout of the players or the CDs is simple, says Zarrelli. "We considered a checkout log and someone assigned to oversee the inventory, but we decided the program works best with less paperwork," she says. Because the speakers hang in a special pouch made by a child life specialist on staff, it is pretty obvious that the CD player and speaker belong to the surgery department, not the patient, she adds. "Although we set the original guideline that the CD player and speaker don't leave the perioperative department, if we have a child that needs to be admitted or moved to another area, we have let it go with the patient if it is calming him or her," she says. The numbers of CD players that have disappeared is minimal, she adds.
Although she has not done a formal study on the program's effects, Zarrelli says a simple questionnaire that asks patients or their parents if they felt as if the music helped them stay calmer resulted in overwhelmingly positive responses. "Nurses also noted positive changes in their vital signs and that patients rested more easily with music," she says.
Sources/Resource
For more information on music in the perioperative setting, contact:
- Andy Zarrelli, RN, RN Care Manager, Columbus Children's Hospital, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205. Telaephone: (614) 722-5215. E-mail: [email protected].
- Jamie Zucker, MD, Canton Ophthalmology Associates, 4715 Whipple Ave. N.W., Canton, OH 44718. Telephone: (330) 456-0047. E-mail: [email protected].
Several web sites provide lyrics to most popular or current music to make review of the age-appropriateness easier for staff members. A few of the web sites are www.azlyrics.com, www.lyricsplanet.com, and www.smartlyrics.com.
He receives requests for certain songs. People bring their own CDs for him to play. And there are days that everyone in the room is tapping their toes.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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