Music listening: An evidence-based approach to help manage postoperative pain

Abstract

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The current standard of practice to manage postoperative pain includes the use of opioids. The purpose of this evidence-based project was to evaluate the effectiveness of music listening as an adjuvant to traditional pain management strategies to relieve postoperative pain and to assess the dosage of opioids used to help manage postoperative pain. Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory was used to guide this evidence-based project.</p>

<p><strong>Design/Methods:</strong> An experimental with intent to treat design was used to implement a trial of music listening for postoperative pain management by the student investigator within 24 hours of arrival to the Medical Surgical Unit following surgery. After the initial session, music was scheduled three times per day for the duration of the hospital stay. Patients listened to music with a tempo of 60-80 beats per minute on devices provided by the student investigator. The student investigator provided single-patient use earphones to the participants.</p>

<p><strong>Results:</strong> The results indicate the subjects in this EBP, who participated in the music listening experienced a decline in pain. However, this effect of the intervention, although clinically significant, was not statistically significant. There were no statistical differences between the music group and control group for Morphine Equivalent Dose (MED) per day (p=.09). MED for the music group significantly declined between pre-intervention and post-intervention (p=.02).</p>

<p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The EBP had promising results. Due to the small sample size, the results cannot be generalized to the larger population. More studies are needed in small rural hospitals.</p>