Mindful Melody: Feasibility of Implementing Music Listening on an Inpatient Psychiatric Unit and Its Relation to the Use of As Needed Medications for Acute Agitation

The number of as-needed medications for agitation was quantified during a three month period during which patients had the option of listening to music in cases of agitation. This was compared to the number of medications needed for agitation during another 3 month period during which music was not available. The medications used were quantified using pharmacy records. Patients and nurses were surveyed to determine how effective and feasible they thought the music intervention was. The study was conducted at the SUNY Upstate University Hospital inpatient psychiatric unit, which is a 24-bed unit. 172 patients were included in the project.

Before starting to offer music, a basic training meeting was held with nursing staff to understand the purpose of the project. Patients participating had the option of selecting a preferred musical genre and they listened to music using wireless headphones. The playlists used were genre playlists automatically generated by Spotify music application. If patients did not like the song that was generated, they had an option to skip the song using their bluetooth headphone controls. Headphones were collected after 30 minutes of listening unless they were return prior to completion of the listening session.