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The Use of Music for Neonates Post-Cardiac Surgery

Boston Children's Hospital logo

Boston Children's Hospital

Status

Completed

Conditions

Heart Defects, Congenital

Treatments

Other: Music Therapy

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT03925584
IRB-P00030729

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to explore the feasibility of implementing nurse-led music therapy in a cohort of neonates admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) post congenital heart surgery. In the proposed setting, the use of a standardized nurse-led music therapy protocol for post-operative neonates would build upon current successful nurse-led efforts to wean sedatives and opioid use for patients admitted to the CICU. The investigators believe data generated from this exploratory feasibility study may serve to further inform a larger study involving the use of music therapy in the cardiac intensive care.

Full description

A predetermined recording of a music playlist meeting the properties of sedative music is being developed in consultation with a Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) music therapist. Properties of sedative music include soothing, stable, constant, and relatively unchanging, slow tempo and light rhythmic emphasis, constant volume and rhythm, lullaby style, repetitious and no separate melody for chorus/bridge. The music recorded for the neonates has been produced specifically for this study. In accordance with the recommendations for soothing music, BCH Music Therapists have recorded English nursery rhymes (Figure 1) in the key of C major at 60bpm with acoustic guitar and voice. The playlist will be stored on an Apple iPod Touch and will be delivered through a Bluetooth speaker that is positioned centrally (so that the sound input is received binaurally) at the subjects head or feet for a period of 20 minutes once during a 12-hour shift for 14 days or until mechanical ventilation has been discontinued, whichever is first.

The literature supports a duration of up to 30 minutes of music therapy followed by at least 30 minutes of silence, with a maximum of four hours per day. Music played for longer than 30 minutes has the potential to be a source of over-stimulation/agitation. There is some evidence to suggest that playing music for long periods of time (two four-hour segments) has a negative effect. In addition, it seems reasonable and likely to assume that the neonate could have a period of 30 minutes when they will not require an intervention associated with post-operative care. The protocol will target a 20 minute playlist. This will allow for variation in the length of songs while ensuring that music will not be played for longer than 30 minutes. There will be at least 30 minutes of quiet between music therapy session.

Enrollment

10 patients

Sex

All

Ages

Under 30 days old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • Greater than 37 weeks gestation,
  • Between 0 to 30 days of age
  • 24 hours post congenital heart surgery
  • Receiving mechanical ventilation
  • Background noise level (at bedside) at the time of music therapy must be 55dB or less.

Exclusion criteria

  • Hemodynamically unstable or end of life
  • If patient is in a closed Giraffe bed
  • Evidence of hearing impairment
  • Patient has known or suspected active seizure disorder

Trial design

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Allocation

N/A

Interventional model

Single Group Assignment

Masking

None (Open label)

10 participants in 1 patient group

Music Therapy
Experimental group
Description:
Implement standardized nurse-led music therapy for neonates post congenital heart surgery who are admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit.
Treatment:
Other: Music Therapy

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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