| Home | Introduction | Music Therapy | Medical Technologies Involving Music | Music in Other Parts of Medicine | Conclusion | References | Honor Code |
Just like music can find a place in every part of someone’s day, it is finding a place in every part of medicine. Some other places in medicine that you can find music are, surprisingly, operating tables. Surgeons say music makes them more relaxed and focused, and recent research shows patients are also feeling the benefits of music in the operating room (Macar, 2006). “Some doctors choose loud rock 'n' roll for routine operations and Mozart for trickier ones; others prefer jazz, reggae, or opera. There is even a category known as "closing music"-raucous sounds to suture by.” (Macar). Many operating rooms come equipped with a sound system, and surgeons often plug their iPods with whatever music gets them going into a sound system and patients may even be given headphones (Macar). Brian Jacob, a surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, thinks music helps everyone in the operating room. "You're basically sending a message to the people around you that it's a cool place to be," he says. Jacob sometimes asks patients for requests, but they usually say that whatever is on is fine: "They want me happy" (Macar). Another way music is involved in medical advances is not exactly scientifically, but as a supporter. One of the most inspiring contributors to health research is Children Helping Children started by child prodigy, Jourdan Urbach (Lewis, 2009). At first, Jourdan performed at Beth Israel for patients in the playroom, or beside the beds of those too ill to leave their rooms (Lewis). In addition to his musical efforts, “he founded Children Helping Children (CHC), a non- profit organization, and describes its mission: "to raise money for national medical organizations, surgery scholarship funds for the disenfranchised, home health care for those with advanced forms of neurological disease, and cutting-edge research targeting neurological disease globally." (Lewis). “To date, CHC has raised more than $1.4 million to benefit such groups as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Children's Hearing Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Labs, Institute for Music and Neurological Function, Beth Israel's INN, and Mott Children's Hospital's Ronald McDonald House.” (Lewis). It is clearly apparent from all the different places music is popping up that music has pervaded every part of the medical field.