Naomi Burns

Benson APL&C 1
Kingsbury US History 3
10 / 13 / 2017

Music Matters

Globally, an estimated 12 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year

(Keenan 1). However, initial diagnosis is only the tip of the iceberg of what is to come:

months to years of hospitalizations, pain, and reduced quality of life. Cancer treatments

such as radiation and chemotherapy are intense and stressful and, while they can be

successful, they do not promote the total well-being of the patient. Approaches in

medical treatment for conditions are constantly changing as technologies and theories

revolutionize. Medicine is currently shifting to a more integrative approach, in which

nonpharmacologic therapies are being recommended as integrated aspects of

interdisciplinary treatment planning (Mandel 1). In the midst of this immense change in

the medical field, hospitals are turning to treatment plans that encompass the entire

state of mind, body, and soul of a patient. Music therapy addresses each of these

aspects of a patients well being. According to the National Association for Music

Therapy (AMTA), music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music

interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a

credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program

(Definition and Quotes para 1). It has become an increasingly studied process within

hospitals, and has yielded numerous benefits. Music therapy should be used for breast

cancer patients in hospitals, specifically Good Samaritan Hospital.

 Music therapy originated in ancient belief and has been expanded through

research and implementation beginning in the 18th century. According to AMTA, the

idea of music as a healing influence which could affect health and behavior is as least

as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato (AMTA para 1). Specifically, the theory that

music has an effect on well-being takes root in its use in ancient healing ceremonies.

Early humans used music in conjunction with dances or words in order to exorcise

disease or heal wounds. The Kahun papyrus documents the earliest medical practices,

and it refers to the use of incantations, a form of music, to heal sick people. Much later,

in the 18th century, scientists commenced studying musics effects on the human body,

and they discovered that it impacted bodily functions such as heart rate, respiratory

rate, blood pressure, and more. Studying music and emotion became especially popular

in the 19th century, when scientists began branching out and learning of musics effects

on physiological and psychological being (History para 1-6). This preliminary theory and

research provided the basis for the development of the music therapy industry in the

following decades.

Influenced by wars and numerous creations of organizations, the profession of

music therapy truly began its development in the early 1900s. It was when local

musicians began playing music in veterans hospitals during World Wars I and II that

music therapy began to take shape as a profession. The patients benefited from the

music, musicians were hired, and soon it became clear that there would need to be

education and requirements for this developing field (AMTA para 5). Early associations

such as the National Society of Musical Therapeutics, the National Association for

Music in Hospitals, and the National Foundation of Music Therapy were each created in
order to address these needs and offer educational mediums and courses, but they

failed to develop an organized clinical profession. The National Association for Music

Therapy (NAMT) was founded on June 2, 1950, and it created a constitution, rules, and

regulations for the education and certification of new music therapists. The American

Association for Music Therapy (AAMT) was established in 1971 and provided a different

approach in philosophy and education compared with NAMT. The American Music

Therapy Association (AMTA) was formed in 1998 as a merger between these two

organizations, and it succeeded where the others did not because it united the music

therapy profession for the first time since 1971 (AMTA para 5). In addition, the

Certification Board for Music Therapists in further ensured the legitimacy of music

therapy as a profession (History para 1-6). It was the new millennium that brought the

most significant change in the industry. For AMTA, donations increased and it was able

to expand its publications in order to branch out to further resources and receive more

revenue. Training for new members became available at the Art and Music Therapy Hill

Day Conference in Washington, D.C. (History 25). These changes made way to the

profession that music therapy is today.

Currently, music therapy is practiced worldwide, in over 40 different countries. It

has been acknowledged in the professional medical field as a globally expanding field

of interdisciplinary intervention and modality of healthcare (McCarthy 3). The industry

itself has evolved greatly. It has been implemented in private and public facilities alike in

order to treat a variety of patients. Knowledge and texts surrounding music therapy

have expanded and now cover a wide range of areas discussing assessment,

treatment, and management of a diverse spectrum of health conditions, taking into

account everything from eating disorders to spinal cord injury (McCarthy 1). The

profession today has made great leaps in progress since its beginnings in the 19th

century.

Music therapy has grown significantly as a profession from its roots in primitive

treatments to its widespread use across the world. Decades worth of research and

evidence prove that it is effective and beneficial to people for various aspects of their

being such as mood and general physical conditions. Music therapy is an important tool

that is useful for treating breast cancer patients in overcoming pain, improving mental

state, and ameliorating the recovery process, and music therapy should be

implemented in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, Colorado.

Music therapys effects on patients and wellness have been studied through

multiple lenses, and it is clear that music therapy has universal benefits on patients.

Music has been shown to have a measurable effect on pain management for patients.

For example, in a study examining the use of music therapy to improve pain

management during shock wave lithotripsy, patients pain levels on the visual analog

scale (VAS) fell from their first session without music to the next with music from 6.3 to

an incredible 2.6, respectively. Music achieves this by easing peoples minds and

directing attention away from any pain (Akbas 3). Listening to music was found to be a

non-invasive, non-pharmacologic, safe, anxiolytic, and analgesic treatment in [the]

study, (Akbas 4). The significance in this discovery was that patients can be treated

with music to tolerate pain, which reduces or even eliminates opioid requirements in

many procedures (Hanser para 5). Additionally, music therapists have developed

clinical protocols that can effectively enable patients to better manage different forms of
pain. They show people how to create music and engage the brain actively so the

perception of pain is overcome on varying levels (Hanser para 2). Music therapists

recognize that a persons entire being is affected when in pain, and, in order to take into

account the mind, body, and spirit, a more all-encompassing approach is the most

effective in addressing pain. Music is a unique component of holistic pain management

because the influence of music is felt on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual

levels, (Hanser para 3). These discoveries are especially effective when applied to

cancer patients in controlling their pain. Barbara, a 55 year old patient diagnosed with

metastatic breast cancer, was particularly distressed approaching procedures such as

blood tests. She described how, during one of these tests, her brain turned to music,

and she was able to turn her attention away from the test and the pain it inflicted,

allowing her to get through the test and to further apply this tool to get through through

other procedures successfully (Hanser para 5). Stories like Barbaras occur frequently,

and they effectively demonstrate the extent to which music therapy is powerful as a pain

management technique. Music therapy is not only a great resource for breast cancer

patients in order to extinguish pain, but it also affects mental well-being.

Music has been shown to improve general well-being and mood. Music therapy

can distract from pain or anxiety, allow for more rhythmic breathing and released body

tension, and cue positive imagery, and ultimately this can change a patients mood.

According to Professor Suzanne Hanser, who has an EdD and MT-BC from the Berklee

College of Music, after a conditioning process of listening to music paired with deep

relaxation, music alone will invoke relaxation (Music Therapy and Music-Based

Interventions 4). This use of music to achieve a reduction in anxiety is easily applicable
in the medical field. For example, in the aforementioned study conducted on patients

receiving shockwave lithotripsy, anxiety was calculated and found to reduce from a

higher anxiety of 48.1 to 40.2 between the two sessions (Akbas 2). This study proves

the positive effect music has on emotional being. Breast cancer patients suffering

through the stress associated with chemotherapy or radiation treatments could benefit

from additional methods that work towards improving their mental well-being. Patients

can gain a more positive well-being and overall mental state as a result of music

therapy, and the benefits continue.

Music can improve the care of a patient throughout the recovery process. The

experience of a patient diagnosed with breast cancer does not end once they have

been treated; the experience encompasses the recovery process as well. A current

concern of women with breast cancer is chemo brain: the idea that cancer treatments

like chemotherapy and radiation therapy may damage normal cognitive functioning. Its

effects are detrimental towards executive function, information processing speed, verbal

and visual memory, and overall mood. It has been shown that mindfulness works to

improve these conditions. Mindfulness involves paying attention while avoiding over

analyzing, judging, or worrying about the past or future; it means being in tune with

ones body and feelings. Breast cancer patients practicing mindfulness have revealed

an improvement in their cognitive functions, especially pertaining to attention, working

memory, focus, and self-regulation. They have also experienced a reduction in fatigue,

an enhanced mood, and an improved well being in general. Music stimuli are a primary

source of focus in practicing mindfulness (Lesiuk 1-6). In this way, music therapy

provides a useful tool in fighting the after-effects of chemotherapy and promoting a full
and healthy recovery process. Music can greatly improve breast cancer patients lives

even after hospitalization. Clearly, music therapy is effective in improving health of the

mind, body, and soul.

The question that remains is whether or not this knowledge will be put to use.

Good Samaritan Hospital should consider its mission statement in deciding whether to

implement music therapy. It states: We are dedicated to providing excellent patient

care by: Focusing on excellent patient care quality, outcomes, and service; Recruiting,

developing and training an engaged workforce; Offering innovative technologies;

Expanding services and partnering with others to meet community needs (About para

4). When the mission statement refers to excellent patient care quality, outcomes, and

service, there is foreseeable potential for music therapy, because of the high quality of

care music therapists ensure and because of their role in creating the best patient

outcomes (About para 4). When the mission statement acknowledges the importance of

recruiting...an engaged workforce, music therapists fit perfectly with this image of fully

engaged, passionate professionals (About para 4). Music therapy can meet the

objective of offering innovative technologies, as music therapy itself is an innovative

method, not to mention that the industry has expanded so that music therapists are

increasingly technologically savvy (About para 4; Alumni Interview para 13). Finally, an

additional option of music therapy would effectively meet the statement of expanding

services for patients (About para 4). In order to fulfill its duties as a hospital, Good

Samaritan should do everything in its power to meet these objectives. Undoubtedly, the

funding the hospital receives allows it to achieve this. It is important to note that part of

this funding, Medicare reimbursement, is based on quality of patient care, which

includes factors such as patient satisfaction (Mandel 1). Music has been proved to

dramatically improve this quality of patient care, as seen in the higher patient

satisfaction on the Press Ganey Inpatient Survey found for those who participated in

music therapy versus those who didnt during their hospitalization (Mandel 6). If Good

Samaritan wants to gain the capital it needs to properly serve its patients as it promises

in its mission statement, it should take musics benefits on quality of patient care into

consideration. As a hospital dedicated to the well-being of its patients, Good Samaritan

must take action in fulfilling each of its objectives and providing its patients with the best

care possible, and this means offering this new practice as another option for patients.

Good Samaritan Hospital should apply this practice in its treatment of breast

cancer patients, in order to expand its services in the form of treatment options for these

patients. Currently, therapy at Good Samaritan comprises of education, exercise, and

manual therapy, but medical providers have not taken advantage of music therapy and

its benefits on a patients journey to full well-being (Physical Therapy para 4).

Specifically, alternative treatments for cancer do exist, but these include supplements,

yoga, and physical exercise, and do not utilize music (Cancer para 1-5). There is an

opportunity here for the hospital to incorporate a whole new treatment method and

effectively expand its services in order to provide the best experience for all of its

patients.

Despite the overwhelming amount of evidence that exists, some may question

music therapys efficacy. As discussed earlier, quantitative data from numerous studies

prove that music therapy has measurable benefits on patients. However, people may

not perceive these findings as sufficient evidence. To address this argument, it is

important to realize that with music therapy, many of the effects go much deeper than

some statistics. Elizabeth Huss, a professional music therapist who works at Columbus

Music Therapy Center, described some of her successes (Sibley para 1). I have a

client who is severely, profoundly retarded. You could...talk to her and touch her and it

will have no effect at all. But once you start playing the music she'll start smiling and

shaking her head to the beat of the music. Just having that connection...is amazing,

she states, and she continues; Often the successes in music therapy are more difficult

to measure quantitatively, which makes it difficult to prove them on paper, but they are

very real, (Sibley 27; 19). Husss story goes to prove that music therapy has effects

that are not merely provable numbers; these effects do exist and they are significant.

Music therapys scientifically measured benefits only scratch the surface of what it can

accomplish with a patient, though Good Samaritan may not recognize its unique

potential compared to other methods.

Good Samaritan may claim that its strategies are equally effective or more

effective than music therapy. This may have some truth behind it, as the current

method, opioids, are extremely effective in alleviating pain in patients. However, opioids

are not entirely ideal, as they have been observed to contribute to obstructive sleep

apnea, respiratory depression, hypotension, tachycardia or bradycardia, temporary

cognitive dysfunction, nausea-vomiting, and allergic reactions (Akbas 1). Music therapy

has demonstrated none of these side effects, and therefore presents itself as a useful

alternative, given its comparative effectiveness. Patients at Good Samaritan could

greatly benefit from this alternative in treatment, though the hospital still needs to

implement it.
 Perhaps Good Samaritan could argue that, however strong the evidence is of

music therapys benefits, it is too difficult to implement a whole new approach to medical

treatment in the hospital. However, it is not necessarily difficult to incorporate music

therapy, as nonpharmacologic pain interventions such as music are nontoxic,

inexpensive, readily available, and an independent nursing intervention, (Keenan 7).

This means that music therapy is not only an approach that is highly beneficial to

patients, but it is also simple and cheap to implement. This incredible feasibility makes it

inexcusable that Good Samaritan Hospital would not consider offering the option of

music therapy for its patients.

The numerous benefits of music therapy on breast cancer patients pain, mental

state, and recovery process must be taken advantage of by Good Samaritan Hospital.

This decision has the potential to enhance lives and dramatically improve general well-

being. As a hospital, Good Samaritan cannot deny the research and proven results, and

it should take action in order to incorporate a method that would improve the quality of

life of its patients. If Good Samaritan wants to provide the best care for its patients, the

hospital needs to be willing to adopt this new treatment method. In this developing

world, change is necessary, and even inevitable. Embracing change is how hospitals

can eventually grant the 12 million people diagnosed with cancer annually a more

hopeful prospect for their future.

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2017.

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