The effects of music on surgery

[bachatero]

Anybody else interested in how music affects surgery performance? There is actually some research on this, but notably, little gives specifics such as what music is played, nor the sound systems they're using, and the acoustics of the operating room, despite how much these factors were already shown by Toole et al to influence its perception.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1743919119303334

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ans.18877

The effect of preferred music on mental workload and laparoscopic surgical performance in a simulated setting (OPTIMISE): a randomized controlled crossover study - Surgical Endoscopy

Background Worldwide, music is commonly played in the operation room. The effect of music on surgical performance reportedly has varying results, while its effect on mental workload and key surgical stressor domains has only sparingly been investigated. Therefore, the aim is to assess the effect...

link.springer.com

Looks like most surgeons respond positively to music, and some think it's distracting. I'm interested in researching this at my university with regards to specific music genre and the volume. Is there anything else relevant to ASR I should consider here?

 

[Chrispy]

Wonder perhaps more from the patient's perspective but interesting idea to explore....

 

[bachatero]

I am reading some individual studies and it is just infuriating how little detail there is on the audio setups. For example, check this out:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931720420303172

During the VAs with music, the speaker was placed on a shelf behind the operating resident. The shelf was 54 inches in height and was 36 inches behind the operating resident. The volume of the music was kept constant at 58 decibels. Prior to the resident's arrival, the music was turned on by a study investigator. This was done without explanation and without mentioning anything to the study subject.

What speaker did they use? Where was it pointing? What unit for decibels is this? All of these could turn otherwise "good" music into a confounding factor.

 

[Taiga]

Last year, I had a chemo port installed inside my chest in the OR with an internal tube running into my jugular vein. I was on general anesthesia and not supposed to be awake, but I could hear everything that they were doing and feel the tugging but no pain.

They were listening to modern urban pop music at high volume. They were also making racist jokes and remarks, although it was a racially diverse group. I am sure they did not realize that I could hear them and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

As they were sewing me up, the OR staff were discussing the next book to choose for their book club. To their surprise, I shot up from my surgical position and exclaimed “I just wrote a book!” They asked me to explain it to them and got very excited. They went to Amazon on the computer in the OR and ordered it as I lay my head back down. They assured me that they would read it while wheeling me back to the recovery room. How’s that for salesmanship?

They did a great job installing the port. Months later, when I had the port removed, there was no music. I ended up with a blood clot in my jugular vein and was on blood thinners for 6 months.

p.s. I am now cancer free.

 

[RayDunzl]

They assured me that they would read it while wheeling me back to the recovery room. How’s that for salesmanship?

I'd be more impressed with their speed reading.

 

[izeek]

iono bout the dr, but it was kool going under to stairway to heaven.

 

[Keith_W]

When I was much younger and doing my residency, I had to go to theatre a few times. I don't know about now, but back then Australian theatres don't have built-in speakers. Whatever music that is played is played on portable sound systems. It can be anything from a ghetto blaster to computer speakers or BT speakers. And it's usually cheap because it's left behind in OT, cheap enough that if someone steals it, it won't matter.

The surgeon in charge usually picks the music, but sometimes they delegate.

I have a lot of wild and crazy stories about theatre, but nothing to do with music. And BTW, it's called "theatre" because early operating rooms were just that - they had seating for medical students and junior doctors to watch. That was before infection control changed everything. When I was young, autopsy theatres were actual theatres, we would sit in a semicircle to watch an autopsy. Usually the pathologist would have finished dissecting the deceased, and the organs would be neatly laid out in front of us. Some of us would be invited to glove up and come and touch.

 

[Audionaut]

I love the smell of chloroform in the morning

 

[Taiga]

I'd be more impressed with their speed reading.

I hate when I write quickly and use poor sentence structure. Thanks for pointing it out .