Perioperative Music Listening on Anxiety, Pain, Analgesia Use and Patient Satisfaction

Some tissue injury is often unavoidable during surgery, which leads to unavoidable pain and anxiety during the perioperative and post-operative period. Acute post-operative pain and anxiety have been managed via pharmacological interventions. However, non-pharmacological interventions have also been shown to be safe and cost-effective, improve the overall patient experience, and improve outcomes across a variety of surgical settings.

Music has been shown to decrease perioperative pain and modulate the inflammatory response. Additionally, anxiety scores and pain scores have shown statistically significant reductions in the perioperative period, when music therapy was available. Currently only few studies investigate its effects during perioperative period especially in local setting. Thus, the investigators will investigate the feasibility and practicability of deploying music listening in KKH pain management and further determine the nature of the music (duration, genre) by fitting the local context in order to improve the patient outcome in perioperative settings.

Phase 1: A total of 300 patients will be offered to select from pre-determined lists of music of different genres or patient choice, before and after surgery. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score, pain scores, analgesia usage, patient satisfaction, and quality of life measurement will be collected. Analysis of the type of music, duration of music listening, and the genre chosen will be analysed.

Phase 2: A hundred and ten women undergoing Caesarean delivery at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) in 1:1 allocation ratio of experimental (music listening) and control (no music listening) groups. Pain and psychological assessments and demographic data collection will be conducted before surgery, and those allocated to experimental group will be asked to use music listening before, during and after surgery.

Inclusion criteria

• Healthy participants who are American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) 1 and 2 (with well-controlled medical problems);
• Undergo day surgery, same-day-admission gynecologic surgery or cesarean section;
• No hearing impairment.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with significant respiratory disease and obstructive sleep apnea;
• Patients who are unable to read and understand the hospital anxiety questionnaire.