The Impact of Music on Patient Satisfaction, Anxiety, and Depression in Patients Undergoing Gynecologic Surgery.

Purpose: The project piloted a perioperative music listening program to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the use of music in a perioperative setting for female surgical patients in an academic hospital in Singapore. The aim was also to examine the most commonly chosen music genres, timing, and length of time listening to music for perioperative patients to assess the impact of music on patients' satisfaction, anxiety, and depression.

Design: This was a quality improvement project.

Methods: Music playlists developed by a music therapist were installed on three iPod Touch devices (Apple, Cupertino, CA). After obtaining consent, female patients undergoing elective gynecologic day surgery selected their preferred music from the playlists on the iPods to listen to during the preoperative and postoperative periods. Patients' anxiety and depression were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the three-level version of the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire. Patients' satisfaction with listening to music, duration, and chosen music genres were recorded.

Findings: In the project, 135 patients listened to music during the preoperative period, and 70 patients chose to listen to music in the postoperative period. Patients were satisfied with the music listening program in both the preoperative (95.5%) and the postoperative (91.5%) periods. In the preoperative period, the most popular music genres were Disney songs (17.7%), classical music (11.6%), and the Piano Guys (7.5%). In the postoperative period, the most favorable music genres were classical music (26.3%), Disney songs (7.9%), and the Beatles (7.9%). This project suggests that music listening may be associated with patients' decreased anxiety and depression as measured by the three-level version of the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire questionnaire (P = .008).

Conclusions: Implementation of a music listening program in perioperative settings is feasible and accepted well by patients as evidenced by the high satisfaction scores. The project addressed patients' satisfaction, anxiety, and depression before and after elective surgery. The findings suggest that music listening is a safe, inexpensive, and effective intervention in perioperative settings.