There is a new “medication” circulating through hospitals around the world, except it’s not a pill … it’s music. People use music as a stress reliever and mood enhancer regularly, but healthcare professionals have found that music is the perfect non-pharmaceutical anecdote for countless medical conditions. This side-effect free approach to medicine has been proven to significantly heighten the patient experience.
The Beryl Institute outlines several instances in which music enhances patient satisfaction. The key to music therapy is personalized playlists … songs that the patient knows and enjoys. The organization uses music as a standard for care and have found that this “medication” helps the patient both mentally and physically.
One researcher describes the impact of personalized music, “One 91-year-old friend was admitted to the hospital to address chest pains, so within 24 hours I dropped off an MP3 loaded with his favorite big band tunes. On day 3, when I entered his room, he was out of bed with his headphones on dancing to the music with a big grin on his face.” (The Beryl Institute).
Music enhances the patient experience, and studies have shown that it also relieves anxiety before and during minor surgeries. Researchers at Penn State compared patient’s anxiety levels when giving one group a sedative and the other music during their procedure. They found that music had equal relaxation effects to a typical sedative drug without the feeling of agitation post-procedure. Music yielded a good care experience and patient satisfaction was even higher if the patient was able to choose his/her calming music.
And once patients leave the hospital, keeping their “medication” active combined with a robust follow-up program is essential to continue their recovery. PREMEDEX has a progressive approach to patient follow-ups which include regular calls from warm, personable professionals who act as extensions of the hospital healthcare team.
Learn how PREMEDEX is helping patients and hospitals alike find the right “medications” through active patient follow-ups. Contact us today.