The Impact of Listening to Music on Analgesic Use and Length of Hospital Stay While Recovering From Laparotomy

Abstract

Postoperative pain management is based on the use of analgesics; however, music may alleviate pain either by direct analgesic effects or by relaxing and distracting the mind from pain and unpleasant feelings. Conflicting results have been presented about how listening to music affects analgesic use and length of hospital stay after surgery. We assessed the effect of music listening on analgesic use, length of hospital stay, and adverse effects in adult patients having laparotomy, using a prospective design with two parallel groups. Patients undergoing elective abdominal surgery (n ϭ 168) were assigned to either a music group (n ϭ 83) operated on odd weeks or a control group (n ϭ 85) operated on even weeks. The music group listened to music 7 times for 30 minutes at a time during the first 3 postoperative days. The control group did not listen to the music. The hypotheses that patients in the music group will need less analgesic, have a shorter length of hospital stay, and experience less adverse effects than those in the control group were not supported by the data, although patients recovering from surgery enjoyed listening to music. Music listening may enhance quality of hospital stay and recovery in patients undergoing major abdom inal surgery and could be a useful tool to relieve the patient's pain experience.Gastroenterology Nursing

Music intervention study in abdominal surgery patients: Challenges of an intervention study in clinical practice

“…Third, the hypothesis that patients in the experimental group who receive standard care and listen to music after surgery have less analgesic use, experienced less adverse effects and shorter hospital stay than those in the control group was not supported …”

The impact of the arts in healthcare on patients and service users: A critical review

“…The majority of the papers (53/69, 76.8%) were concerned with the positive effect of music listening on patients/service users, although some, e.g. Vaajoki, Pietilä, Kankkunen, and Vehviläinen‐Julkunen (), Vaajoki, Kankkunen, Pietilä, and Vehviläinen‐Julkunen (), Vaajoki, Kankkunen, Pietilä, Kokki, and Vehviläinen‐Julkunen (), reported different aspects and findings from the same studies (see Table for details of the music listening studies). The remaining 16 papers incorporated a range of different art forms (see Table ).…”

“…A number of studies looked at perceptions of care and/or patient satisfaction in a range of different context settings, from a perioperative setting to Accident and Emergency (Kilic et al., ; Mogos, Angard, Goldstein, & Beckstead, ). Length of hospital stay and the relationship between music listening was the focus of two studies, one in relation to patients on a ventilation machine (Szilagyi, Dioszeghy, Frituz, Gal, & Varga, ), and the other in relation to abdominal surgery patients (Vaajoki et al., ). Zhou, Li, Yan, Dang, and Wang () also examined duration of hospital stay, along with depression rates for breast cancer patients after a mastectomy.…”

“…A number of studies also examined the effect of music listening in relation to both anxiety and pain levels, Chlan et al (2013) tested whether music listening reduced anxiety and sedative levels during ventilator support in critically ill patients, and Angioli et al (2014) investigated the effects of music listening on anxiety and perception of pain during gynaecological procedures.The remaining quantitative studies examined the effects of music listening in relation to healthcare. A number of studies looked at perceptions of care and/or patient satisfaction in a range of different context settings, from a perioperative setting to Accident and Emergency(Kilic et al, 2014;Mogos, Angard, Goldstein, & Beckstead, 2013).Length of hospital stay and the relationship between music listening was the focus of two studies, one in relation to patients on a ventilation machine(Szilagyi, Dioszeghy, Frituz, Gal, & Varga, 2014), and the other in relation to abdominal surgery patients(Vaajoki et al, 2012) Zhou, Li, Yan, Dang, and Wang (2011). also examined duration of hospital stay, along with depression rates for breast cancer patients after a mastectomy.…”

Songs for Silent Suffering: Could Music Help with Postsurgical Pain?

“…Additionally, music triggers positive physiological responses, such as reduced blood pressure and respiratory rates [9,13]. For patients, music provides a healing environment, enhances the quality of their hospital stay and is an integral part of the multimodal regimen administered to patients undergoing surgery [6,14]. In addition, music is found to decrease the severity of postoperative delirium [15].…”