The Effects of Personalized Music Therapy to Reduce Patient Anxiety for Surgery on Patient-doctor Relationship and Patient Satisfaction

Patients often experience anxiety before surgery. They feel anxious for a number of reasons, such as worrying about the state of the disease they are diagnosed with, discomfort about the unfamiliar hospital environment, whether the operation is safe or it will be painful after surgery. In particular, anxiety related to surgery increases as the date and time of surgery approaches, and is most heightened just before surgery.

Persistent anxiety can lead to depression by triggering negative emotions, may also contribute to low compliance with overall treatment, and leading to low quality of life (QoL).

For this reason, various alternative treatments have been attempted to reduce the patient's stress, and music therapy is one of them. Music therapy can significantly reduce anxiety in patients before surgery. In addition, through many attempts so far, the possibility of affecting pain or quality of life after surgery has been confirmed. However, the results of studies are still inconsistent and evidence is not clear about the additional effects that can be obtained through patient anxiety reduction. Therefore, more earnest and practical research is required on additional effects and utilization through music therapy.

The investigators realized the possibility that listening to music to a patient before anesthesia in an operating room could not only reduce anxiety for the patient, but also provide an opportunity to improve the relationship with the doctor. Listening to music in the operating room is an impressive experience for the patient, and it can be an opportunity to make a positive impression on the medical staff who prepared it. This has the potential to improve the relationship between patients and doctors who need to continue to meet for additional treatment in the future.

According to a study by H. Beesley et al., in 40% of patients after breast reconstruction surgery, there was a difference between the satisfaction of the surgery and the cosmetic evaluation of the medical staff, and the relationship between the patient and the medical staff was evaluated to have an effect on this. A good relationship with a doctor or medical staff can lead to high satisfaction in patients with a low beauty score, and conversely, a poor relationship with a medical staff can lead to low satisfaction. This can be considered the possibility that if the patient-doctor relationship is improved through music therapy, the patient's satisfaction with surgery or treatment can also be increased.