Is it Music Therapy or Music Medicine?
Do YOU know the difference between Music Therapy and Music Medicine? Many people use the terms interchangeably but they differ in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Fundamentally, music therapy requires licensed music therapists; music medicine relies on prescriptive pre-recorded music as implemented by other clinical professionals.
Who can practice music medicine and music therapy?
Music Medicine is practiced by a variety of practitioners, including music therapists. The wonderful thing about Music Medicine is that it can be practiced by any clinical professional, including physicians, nurses, physical therapists, hospital chaplains, and even dentists. The only requirement is that it must be implemented by a clinician.
In my case, I am a Ph.D.-level clinical musicologist and a licensed clinical social worker. I have been working in a medical setting for over 30 years, helping patients to use my therapeutic playlists in a surgical setting, before, during, and after surgery.
For our clients, the clinician is usually a nurse or physician.
What does a music therapist do and what credentials must they have?
Music therapists have a Bachelors or Masters in music therapy and are board-certified by their peers. They work in hospitals and clinics and sometimes they work in private practice. Music therapists traditionally work one-on-one with patients but occasionally do group therapy.
Music therapists help thousands of people worldwide every day in hospitals, clinic and home settings. But there are far more people that need music medicine than there are music therapists. That’s where music medicine comes in.
What is required to practice music medicine and what are their credentials?
Music Medicine is therapeutic music that has been pre-prepared for patients undergoing or suffering from a wide variety of medical situations. It is being used daily in surgical suites, pre- and post- surgery suites, chemotherapy, kidney dialysis, labor and delivery, and pain management. Our newest hospital customer is using our music medicine intervention in their ketamine infusion area.
Waiting for a C-section.
Many patients have gotten through their colonoscopies with the help of our playlists loaded on their smartphones. In the situation, the Doctor simply educates the patient about the benefits of going under anesthesia accompanied by therapeutic music that has the tempo of the healthy resting heartbeat, a simple texture, and one that easily engages rhythmic entrainment. Rhythmic entrainment occurs when the pulse of the music synchronizes with the body’s natural rhythms such as breathing and heartbeat. This is clinically important because having stable body rhythms during a procedure is important to the success of the procedure and the health of the patient.
Note that most popular music such as the kind that’s available on Spotify, Apple Music, et cetera, is not intended to be therapeutic and is not likely to engage rhythmic entrainment.
Other uses for our pre-loaded and downloadable devices
The patient in this picture is wearing our headphones pre-loaded with a classical playlist, that has calmed her down with no additional medication. The side benefit is that the headphones also block out other conversations of doctors and nurses, as well as nearby patients who are also waiting for C-sections but without the benefit of soothing music and noise-blocking headphones.
Music Medicine and Music Therapy have both been proven extremely effective at calming anxiety and pain perception and have absolutely no known side effects. If a music therapist is available to work with you, go for that! But music therapists are often in very short supply, especially for things like C-sections, surgery, chemotherapy and kidney dialysis.
This is where Surgical Serenity Solutions headphones, MP3 players, and playlists shine! Hospitals often purchase the MP3 players in great quantity and even give them to the patient after the procedure. Use the links below for more information or to purchase!
How to get Music Medicine going at YOUR hospital
If this sounds like something you want your hospital to acquire, like many VA hospitals, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Johns Hopkins, and Mayo cardiology, just click on a link below.
Reusable headphones: https://surgicalserenitysolutions.com/hospitalheadphones
Give to the patient MP3 players:
https://surgicalserenitysolutions.com/MP3players
License or download our playlists:
https://surgicalserenitysolutions.com/contact-us
Music is just a powerful modality for coping with anxiety and pain. Give your patients an intervention that has no negative side-effects, as many refills as your want and non-addictive!
