Music Interventions During Wide-Awake Hand Surgery

Description

Music has been shown to decrease anxiety and pain during surgery. Wide awake local anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) surgery on the hand is gaining popularity due to efficiency, cost savings and patient safety.

Despite the popularity of WALANT, it still can be anxiety producing even for patients who choose to proceed with surgery without sedation. Music has been shown to decrease anxiety during surgery, but patients’ music choices vary widely. The frequency (Hz) of the music intervention has been shown to impact pain reduction, and patient choice of music has been shown to increase sense of control which can decrease anxiety. No study has evaluated the intraoperative effect of patient choice of music vs standardized relaxation music on intraoperative anxiety.

The primary objective of this research is to compare the effect of patient music choice vs standardized relaxation music played during surgery on anxiety levels in patients undergoing WALANT hand surgery. The investigators hypothesize that standardized relaxation music will result in reduced anxiety compared to patient’s choice of music.