After surgery, elderly patients have a greater chance of complications; this is because they do not recover as well due to aging processes. To counteract this, nursing researcher Hanneke van der Wal-Huisman developed an intervention with live music played at the hospital bedside on several surgery wards. In recent years she has studied the effect of this on the recovery and well-being of recently operated older patients.
To make this possible, she made contact with the Prince Claus Conservatory of the Hanze University Groningen. Specially trained musicians from the conservatory played music at the surgery department. They played several days in a row, 10-15 minutes per bedside each time. They played one or two pieces, depending on the wishes and/or clinical condition of the patient and in close cooperation with the nurses. The music consisted of both the musicians' repertoire and music determined together with the patient.
In her research, Van der Wal-Huisman examined the effect of this on the amount of pain the patients experienced. She also looked at patients' anxiety and level of relaxation and at patient satisfaction. She compared the group of patients for whom live music was played at bedside with a group for whom this was not done.
Van der Wal-Huisman soon noticed that the live music did something to the patients: 'They experienced demonstrably less pain in the first three hours after the music was played than the group of patients in whom no live music was played.' The patients also experienced less anxiety because of the music. Furthermore, the music caused the patients to relax more. 'Surgery causes stress in the body, which can be detrimental to recovery,' Van der Wal points out. 'The activity of the nervous system can be determined by measuring the time between two heartbeats. The live music makes patients relax more and creates a better balance in their nervous system.'
In addition to the physiological effects, the live music met the emotional needs of elderly patients. 'They reported that it caused them to open up their emotions more,' Van der Wal said. 'Not just because the music provided distraction, but precisely because they started talking about other things. These needs of patients are often underemphasized during hospitalization. But they are indeed important for improving their well-being.'
What was special was that the music played live changed the contact between the patient and nurse. 'Their contact intensified. This is because by watching and listening to the music together, they really experienced something together. They were sometimes very intimate moments. As a result, they felt a genuine connection between them.'
When she introduced live music, Van der Wal noticed some doubts in some departments. Van der Wal: 'Sometimes I was told something like: 'Does that even have to happen now?' But those doubts have disappeared because of these experiences. The enthusiasm of the patients helped enormously with the introduction.
Van der Wal-Huisman advocates making live music a structural part of hospital care. 'Music clearly has positive effects on both patients and care staff. It is easily accessible to a growing group of vulnerable, elderly patients. It fits right in with the shift to value-driven, appropriate care. In this, the focus is not so much on curing the disease, but rather having an eye for human values.'
Hanneke van der Wal - Huisman studied HBO-V at Hanzehogeschool Groningen and Nursing Science at Utrecht University. She did her research at the Department of Surgery of the UMCG. She collaborated with the Prince Claus Conservatory of the Hanzehogeschool Groningen and obtained her doctorate on her research on Wednesday, Jan. 17. The title of her dissertation is Adding value to care through live bedside music. She continues to work as a nursing researcher at the UMCG.
