Background music or silence?

Not sure how i started thinking about this, but during a play exam do you prefer music or silence? If you prefer music, what type? Would your choice change whether you were the patient or the doctor/nurse? For example, as a patient I like some moderate cello music in a minor key in the background-- something a little dark to set the scene, loud enough that I can hear it but not too loud where I can't here the rustling of stainless steel medical instruments as my exam begins. Other thoughts?

Instrumental music - preferably classical piano

I haven't had a play exam yet, but have thought about them more than often enough.

And as with almost any kind of activity, whether it be shopping in a supermarket or having dinner or having a play exam or anything else sexual for that matter, total lack of music would be essential. Music is so distracting and annoying and almost literally kidnaps one's thoughts and feelings, so much so that other activities may drop into the background of awareness. So I would emphatically say: silence ...

Besides, why detract from some of the most appetizing aspects of a play exam? Why would anyone not wish to hear to subtle clink of metal instruments against each other or a glass container or whatever. Not being able to see what the playdoc is taking next, but being able to hear it without being able to definitely identify it is a nice way of heightening the wished for anxiety levels.

Besides, I have never been in a real doctor's office where there is music playing. Waiting rooms yes, to my great annoyance sometimes, even with a radio AND TV playing at the same time. Luckily there is now an intellectual property royalty on waiting room and other publicly played music and most doctors have discontinued music in their waiting rooms - Praise the Legislature for this!

So, I go all out for the Sound of Silence.

I agree with silence in the exam room itself, for the same reasons as agracier says. As a play doc myself, I have to say that I'd find it distracting- I love music too much, and thus I'd have half an ear on it, and thus not on what I was doing which is unacceptable to me. If I'm lucky enough to be in a situation where I can set up a waiting room, I do like the idea of playing the irritating Muzak/panpipes that you often get in RL doctors offices. Reality is always nice!

I can only reply for real life situations in my clinical environment ( ITU). I must admit that I love to have the radio on in the background as I work, especially if you are assigned to a cubicle. I think it relaxes you as ITU can be very stressful at times due to the critical nature of the patients. So it not unusual for us to be singing along and relieving a bit of the tension, our senior consultant prefers classical music and its not uncommon to hear it streaming from his office .

Of course when auscultating the heart and lungs it can be distracting and mask a few of the quieter sounds, so its usually off at those periods as well as at night to help promote sleep.

I had a small abscess removed from my face a few years ago and the surgeon had a Robbie Williams album playing. It helped me relax and he was obviously OK with it.

In a play exam, in fact in real life too, I'd go with whatever the practitioner wanted.

I had a small abscess removed from my face a few years ago and the surgeon had a Robbie Williams album playing. It helped me relax and he was obviously OK with it.

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I've had several small procedures done like that over the years - mole or growth cut from my neck, removal of infected toenail ... but I've never known any music to be played in the background by any of the doctors/surgeons ... and this is for what are essentially small, insignificant things.

So I can't imagine it being done during a long drawn out operation where several specialists all have to be well attuned to each other. Wouldn't the chief surgeon understand that his choice of music or any music at all might distract or interfere with other people working with him? And thereby jeopardize the incidence of making a mistake?

Some people prefer to work with some background music, much like the stereotypical TV surgeon listening to classical music.

like the stereotypical TV surgeon listening to classical music.

That is what I was wondering about: how much is it a TV stereotype and how much real?

I've had some 4 surgical procedures done and never heard any music at all. Only in 1 was I anesthetized, but I was outside the OP proper for some minutes and heard nothing while waiting except my heart pounding and lungs pumping from trepidation ... 😃

My niece, who has had several procedures the last few years, mentioned that her OR nurses would put on her (my niece's) choice of music before she was put under. One time she asked for Taylor Swift and the nurses were singing along with it.

Some Andreas Vollenweider would be my choice.

Thingsekg- no way! You may or may not believe this, but I once worked with a Maxfax surgeon who liked to listen to Robbie Willilams during surgery. I'm afraid my liking for his music (which was never particularly well developed) was adversely affected by the experience of being subjected to an album of his whilst standing in a cold theatre for approximately 6 hours when I was heavily pregnant!

thingsekg- no way! You may or may not believe this, but I once worked with a Maxfax surgeon who liked to listen to Robbie Willilams during surgery. I'm afraid my liking for his music (which was never particularly well developed) was adversely affected by the experience of being subjected to an album of his whilst standing in a cold theatre for approximately 6 hours when I was heavily pregnant!

Having to listen to someone else's choice of music is often a form of (unintentional) aversion therapy. Aversion therapy may not help in altering a person's sexual inclination or identity, but it sure as hell works where music is concerned. 😃

When I did a preceptorship with a gastro. to observe colon and upper GI endoscopies, he and I were about the same age and were in Jr. Hi and Hi School during the late 50's, early 60's. The GI Doc had his own tapes, or CD's of R & R music from those years, (Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, The Platters, Elvis, etc.). Those songs were playing during all his scoping's and he and I were playing < Name that Tune). The nurses and assistants present were all younger than us, so they had little idea who the artists were. The patients were all Zonked-out, so they never heard a thing, but we had lots of fun listening.

A question about playing music during medical procedures or operations: I'm certain that it must not be unheard for medical personnel to hear something incorrectly, misunderstand a spoken command or request, perhaps not hear it at all, due to the music. So what happens if this causes a serious mistake? Who is responsible? The person who initiated the music, or the person not hearing over the musical din?

My first job was in an office and it was strictly against policy for anyone to play any music at all (on a radio or cassette player) , since it caused too many distractions and caused mistakes to happen more frequently. Why is a medical setting different?

AG, it's my thought that it is the person in charge of the surgical theater, who bears all responsibility for whatever happens therein. Somebody has to take responsibility, and whosoever is the top dog, it seems that it would be his/her ass on the line.

Just my 2 ¢ - Hermann

During my training and at present it was very common for the surgeons to have music playing in the background while they operated , it was mainly classical and I know that a vascular surgeon would not operate unless his Vivaldi Four Seasons CD was playing in the background.

Some of the younger surgeons occasionally had a few pop songs , but they were the exception rather than the norm when it came to music in the operating department.

My daughter has had many procedures in theatre . Each time she gets to take her own music . If she doesn't her Renal surgeon either has Les Miserables playing or some other opera music playing .

When I went into labour with my girls I had a normal delivery the first time and the radio was playing " Fairground " by Simply Red . For my caesarean delivery when I had my twins the radio was on in the theatre too . My girls were born too " The tide is High " by Atomic Kitten. They turned the radio off immediately out of respect and the mood changed when one of my twins passed away .

Nikki

When i was waiting to go into the operation room, the docs asked me if i wanted to listen to any music, i was on the trolley, and i asked them did they have any

pink floyd they said they did, i mentioned that my consultant had told me that my op was long and complicated,so the record i would like is pink floyds

'coming back to life' they all laughed.

For many procedures I've had, I've worn headphones.

Many dental procedures, for one, though I've always noticed my dentist's office plays music over the speakers that you can hear everywhere.

But I've also worn headphones and used my personal iPod during the prep and before being put under for spinal taps, colonoscopies, endoscopies, etc.

In play exams, I'm more partial to the deafening silence.

I like the weight of the air as the speculum is being inserted and the only sound is the slow spin of the screw.

Or, when you're undressing and there's pure silence and all you hear are your clothes crumpling to the floor and the doctor's breathing, bidding you to join him at the table.

Lead researcher Sharon-Marie Weldon, from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, said: "Music can be helpful to staff working in operating theatres where there is often a lot of background noise, as well as other distractions - it can improve concentration.

"That said, we'd like to see a more considered approach, with much more discussion or negotiation over whether music is played, the type of music and volume within the operating teams."

The Royal College of Surgeons says if music is played during surgery, it "must not be distracting".