Effects of Playing Music in Postoperative Recovery Unit - Essay Example

Effects of Playing Music in Postoperative Recovery Unit Name Institution Course Date Effects of playing music in postoperative recovery unit Introduction Clinical practitioners are faced with several challenges in taking care of the physical needs of the hospitalized and surgical patients. Meeting the holistic patients’ needs presents another challenge since these curative interventions, such as listening to music are normally seen as extras. Enrolled nurses have the obligation of establishing holistic health. Holistic health care entails a therapeutic atmosphere for the patient as well as an atmosphere that minimizes stress. A therapeutic environment assists patients to relocate from negative stimuli to familiar and pleasant stimuli, permitting them to go into their own world. One element of such an atmosphere may be gentle music, an intercession that might assists patients to direct their consciousness upon the playing music and assist patients to relax (Nilsson, 2008). Effects of playing music in postoperative recovery unit Music is closely connected with arousal and emotions. According to Bernardi et al (2010) evidence proposes that listening to music changes emotional stimulations as indexed by alterations in respiratory and cardiovascular activities. In addition, it has been proposed that music possesses an analgesic impact in minimizing anxiety and focusing attention away from unpleasant experience to, thus assisting patients to deal with emotional anxiety and stress(Nilsson & Good, 2008). Postoperative recovery is an energy needing procedure of going back to wholeness and normality. Postoperative recovery is defined by relative standards , attained by reclaiming control over social, habitual, physical and psychological functions, , leading to a restoration to preoperative degree of dependency and independence in daily living activities and optimal degree of psychological health. In a latest review, utilizing diverse forms of relaxing music within perioperative care of patients, Good et al (2010) note that soothing music is capable of improving a patient’s postoperative recovery procedure through minimizing subjective pain experience as well as minimizing the need for morphine like analgesics. Other positive impacts on patients recovery after surgery such as minimized delirium and acute confusion within elderly patients undergoing knee and hip surgery and minimized intubation time and anxiety following cardiovascular operation have been reported (Twiss et al, 2006). The postoperative period is specifically a time where the psychological and physiological adverse effects of surgery may cause pain, stress and anxiety for patients. Even when under medication, majority of patients experience severe to moderate pain when immobile and when in motion. The resultant anxiety leads disturbances in sleep, blood pressure and appetite, which eventually may hinder recovery and extend hospital stay. With these issues as a concern, it has been proposed that music might play a vital role in assisting to minimize pain and anxiety in patients within hospital settings. The therapeutic utilization of music within clinical settings is useful in that it reduces anxiety, depression and fear linked with pain (McCaffrey & Locsin 2009). The pain of a patient is a multidimensional and a unique experience. Pain after operation can lead to physiological transformations in the body of the patient, such as high blood pressure and increased heart and respiratory rates. In addition, pain is capable of slowing down the process of wound healing and cause gastric and urine retention, which can cause delayed recovery. The pain experience after surgery is influenced by a patient’s age, life situation, attitudes and beliefs towards surgical pain, as well as feelings of tension, anxiety, fear and previous experience with pain. Inadequate lessening of pain minimizes a patient’s satisfaction with her or his care, prolongs recovery and time of hospital admission and lowered quality of life. Insufficient management of pain after surgery also has the probability of making the pain chronic. Assessment of the patient’s pain after surgery needs steadfast measures, competent healthcare professionals and consistent and continual assessment. In order to be a steadfast pain measure, it should be quick and easy and it should be adequately sensitive and accurate to access the impact of the management of pain (Cunningham et al, 2009). Pain that occurs as a result of tissue damage doesn’t always result to perception of pain by a person. The spinal cord mechanism can either permit pain signal to go through, change it, or avert its passage into central nervous system. In accordance to the cognitive behavioral theory, the cognitive and emotional factors of a patient can be affected by focusing concentration and awareness away from pain, for instance through listening to music, therefore averting pain signal from moving from brain getting in to the spinal cord. Through listening to music after operation, it is probable to influence a patient’s feelings of sadness, fear and joy, along with behavior, through soothingly generating a feeling of familiarity and comfort within an unfamiliar environment (Cunningham et al, 2009). Aim of music therapy after surgery The aim playing music to a patient who has undergone surgery is to ease her or his recovery and to promote the person’s feeling of wellbeing. According to Salimpoor et al (2009) music has an effect on a person’s emotions, behavior and physiology. It has the capability of boosting the self esteem of a patient as well as alleviating anxiety and pain. Music as a nonpharmacological therapeutic method is less costly , simple to implement and doesn’t have side effects unless the music being played acts as a reminds the patient of unpleasant incidents. Listening to music during postoperative management of pain is listening to a certain type of music for certain duration of time. The diverse aspects of music such as pitch, melody and rhythm and the patient’s culture age, musical preferences and education have individual effects and they must be considered when selecting music. With regard to a patient’s recovery or feeling of good health, it is significant to play music that is appropriate for the preferences and mood of the patient. In addition, the music’s volume and whether it is listened via speakers or earphones is important. Prior to listening to music, it is essential to ensure the condition and position of the patient is well so that she or he can properly focus upon listening to the music. Also, the environment must be peacefully and have minimal noises and distractions (Bernardi et al, 2010). Use of music therapy in pain alleviation is also advantageous because it does not cause harm to patients, has less risks and low costs, which implies that music therapy has a great potential of reducing suffering. As an explicit nursing intervention, music is advantageous, especially due to its short of unpleasant responses and as a noninvasive remedy, its comparative inexpensiveness, along with its simplicity of administration. Thus, music therapy in postoperative patients is vital in relieving pain and improving or balancing physiologic parameters like heart rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure and respiratory rate in postoperative period. Management of pain is a vital nursing intervention after surgery. Alleviation of pain is a vital element of postoperative nursing care and if not sufficient, it is capable of delaying rehabilitation. Pain distress, pain intensity along with sleep disturbance resulting from pain leads to a reduction in the patients’ capability to go back to the preoperative functional status (Salimpoor et al, 2009). The role an Enrolled Nurse may be involved in when implementing the practice. Pain is a repulsive emotional and sensory experience connected with potential or acute tissue damage. Even though pain is a predictable portion of postoperative experience, insufficient pain management is frequent and may have intense repercussions. Unalleviated postoperative pain might lead to psychological and clinical alterations that raise mortality, costs and morbidity and decrease quality of life. In addition, negative clinical effects emerging from ineffective pain management after surgery, entail pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, and poor wound healing, demoralization and insomnia. Pain is one of the core sources of concern for surgery patients and postoperative management of pain is significant owing to the high number of people undergoing surgery nowadays. As a result of pain, patients cannot breathe deeply, cough or begin moving around, and this might cause delays in their recovery. Inadequately controlled pain also leads to hemodynamic instability, which may result to myocardial ischemia. Bernardi et al (2010) note that these pain related complications have medical and economic complications, like extended stays in hospital and patient discontent with medical care. Therefore, effective postoperative pain management is a significant factor in the overall recovery of the patient. Pharmacological management must go on being the cornerstone of treatment of postoperative pain. Nevertheless non pharmacological ways of pain management are beneficial, partly because they may enhance the side effects of pain alleviation medications. Nurses spend a lot of time with postoperative patients who have pain than other healthcare professionals and they are thus in the best position to consider nonpharmacological pain alleviation strategies to harmonize the analgesics presently used. Cognitive behavioral intervention, like music, for management of pain is highly recommended by agency for healthcare research and quality Chan et al (2010) argue that t he commonly acknowledge d theory explicating the anxiety, pain and stress minimizing effects of listening to music is that music operates as a distracter and focuses the attention of the patient away from the depressing stimuli to an encouraging and pleasant stimuli. Additionally, music occupies the mind of the patient with something soothing and familiar, which permits the patient to flee into her or his individual world. Listening to music is hypothesized to discharge of endorphins from the patient and to lessen the levels of catecholamine, thus leading to reduced blood pressure and reduced necessity for analgesics. Moreover, there is an improvement in respiratory rate and heart rate and a decrease in oxygen consumption (Chan et al, 2010). Conclusion Pain is common after surgery and insufficient management of pain can lead to a patient’s prolonged recovery, lengthy hospitalization and dissatisfaction with health care. Music is a nonpharmacological therapy that can help the quick recovery of postoperative patients by relieving pain. Listening to music alleviates pain by allowing patients to disconnect with the negative pain experience and to focus his or her attention to familiar and pleasant stimuli. Music therapy is advantageous in that it is easy to implement, it is less costly and does not have adverse side effects compared to pain relieving analgesics. List of References McCaffrey, R, & Good M, 2008, The lived experience of listening to music while recovering from surgery. J Holist Nurs. ,18( 4):378-390 McCaffrey R, & Locsin R, 2009, Using music listening in nursing: A symphony of practice, Journal of Holistic Nursing , 16(3):231-240 Good M, Anderson C, Stanton-Hick M, & Makii M., 2010 Relaxation and music reduce pain after gynecologic surgery, Pain Management Nursing, 3:61-70 Bernardi L, Porta C, & Sleight P., 2010, Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory changes induced by different types of music in musicians and non-musicians: the importance of silence, Heart, 92:445—52 Nilsson, U, 2008, The anxiety- and pain-reducing effects of music inter-ventions: a systematic review, Association of periOperative Registered Nurses Journal, 87, 780-807 Cunningham MF, Monson B, Bookbinder M, 2009, introducing music pro-gram in the perioperative area. AORN J; 66:674-82. Twiss E, Seaver J, & McCaffrey R, 2006, The effect of music listening onolder adults undergoingcardiovascular surgery. Nurs Crit Care 11:224-31 Chan F, Wong C, & Fong C. 2010, Effects of music on patients undergoing a c-clamp procedure after percutaneous coronary interventions, Journal of Advanced Nursing 53, 669-679. Read More