As I have mentioned, I currently work as a nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at a large academic medical center where we see a wide variety of children of all ages and abilities. Throughout all of the new nurse classes I was required to attend as part of my orientation, the instructors continuously encouraged the use of the music channel available on our televisions to help soothe your patients. While I appreciated the fact new nurses were being encouraged to use music to help modify the environment, I also had a few concerns. I had noticed when walking around the unit at night that I did hear the the music channel playing... over, and over, and over, and over..... for hours on end, even if the child was fast asleep. Add to that the fact that the channel essentially repeated the same 3-4 "soothing" songs (ironically several were CCR covers played on the xylophone) over and over again all night long. I found that I was having trouble falling asleep after my shift because the songs were playing over and over in my head.
Can you say "habituation"?!?!
Luckily, since August, the music channel has expanded its repertoire. And of course, I am never shy about speaking up in all of my classes to clarify how to use the music channel appropriately. I encourage nurses to put the channel on to create a soothing environment to help distract, calm, and encourage sleep. But once the child is asleep, it is so important to remember to turn it off instead of letting it play for 12 hours straight.
I love that my hospital encourages nurses to use this resource and I hope to continue to educate on the appropriate uses of ambient music, especially in a unit where children are critically ill and restful sleep is vital. This education role is one of the things I love about being a music therapist and a nurse.
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