Music Helps Patients on Ventilators

Being hooked up to a ventilator for breathing is a stress-provoking experience. The patient can’t talk or even take a breath on her own, and she is isolated from her friends and in serious medical trouble. If doctors attempt to alleviate the fear and anxiety of such patients with drugs, the medications can slow recovery and contribute to complications. Now a review of 8 clinical trials shows that music therapy can reduce anxiety and make breathing a bit easier and more regular. While there is more research to be done on the best type and tempo of music and the best ways to offer it, the researchers recommend “that music be offered as a form of stress management for critically ill patients.”
[Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Dec., 2010]