Music as Medicine: Music Therapy for Post-Operative Pain Relief
Introduction: Post-operative pain can be difficult to manage as a common complaint among postoperative patients. Music therapy in the postoperative environment is one strategy aimed at aiding in reducing post-operative pain compared to listening to no music post-operatively. The goal of this proposed project is to evaluate the effect of implementing music therapy into care on improving postoperative pain in patients over 18 at Baystate Springfield Hospital. Background: Current evidence supports that music therapy provides a unique way of distracting the patient when they experience pain thus stimulating the gate theory and decreasing pain. The use of music can also help reduce anxiety that can be experienced with pain that is present postoperatively.Methods: The proposed study would include a group of 5 patients in the Baystate Springfield PACU, in which for 3 days postoperatively, patients receiving standard post-operative care will rate their pain level on a scale from 0-10 after 12 hours. During the next 12 hours, patients will be able to listen to music of their own choosing, on top of receiving continued standard care. This will allow for the evaluation of pain both with and without the music therapy component to determine if it is effective. Results: Once the pilot of monitoring pain levels with standard post-operative care is completed, the results will be analyzed using the Plan, Do, Study, Act framework to determine if the inclusion of music into standard post operative care should continue.