Music therapy in surgical area
UH Seidman Cancer Center music therapists and a nurse anaesthetist
share experience from a two-year study finding music reduces anxiety,
pain for biopsy patients.
A new paper published in the September 2016 issue of the AORN Journal
provides insights into the impact of implementing a music therapy
program for surgical patients.
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Music therapists at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer
Center lowered anxiety among patients undergoing breast
biopsies Image Credit: University Hospitals, Cleveland |
The paper, written by two music therapists and a nurse anesthetist at
University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, is based on what they
learned while conducting a two-year randomized study to learn the effect
of live and recorded music on the anxiety of 207 women undergoing a
biopsy for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The authors collaborated to introduce music therapy practices into
the surgical area. In the study, they randomized patients into a control
group (no music), a live music group, or a recorded music group. Due to
limited time before surgery, the researchers presented patients in the
experimental groups with a live song performed by a music therapist at
bedside or a recorded song played on an iPod through earphones.
When self-rating their anxiety using a visual scale ranging from 'not
at all anxious' to 'highly anxious,' participants in both live and
recorded-music groups experienced a significant reduction in
pre-operative anxiety of 42.5 percent and 41.2 percent, respectively,
when compared to the control group.
"During our two-year trial, we gained information on potential
benefits, challenges and methods of facilitating a surgical music
therapy program," said, lead author Jaclyn Bradley Palmer, a
board-certified music therapist at UH Seidman Cancer Center. "In
addition, we learned approaches to integrating the program with
perioperative nursing staff members."
Palmer said, a music therapist may be highly beneficial in the
surgical setting, and music therapy may be a means of enhancing the
quality of patient care in collaboration with perioperative nurses.
"As an interdisciplinary surgical staff member, the music therapist
may help nurses achieve patient-related goals of anxiety reduction, pain
management, effective education and satisfaction," said Palmer. "And, by
having professional music therapists facilitate surgical music therapy
programs, nursing workloads also may be reduced."
- MNT |
