(Press-News.org) In the Christmas issue of The BMJ, surgeons at the University Hospital of Wales examine the intertwined history of music and healing, and suggest tunes for surgeons and theatre staff to play - and to avoid - during operations.
As early as 4000 BC, "hallelujah to the healer" was played as part payment for medicinal services, while the ancient Greeks identified Apollo as the father of both healing and music. More recently, studies have shown beneficial calming and even pain relieving effects of music for patients having surgery.
But does music strike a chord with the surgeon and the theatre staff? It is certainly commonplace, being played 62-72% of time in theatre, and most often chosen by the leading surgeon, write the authors.
Around 80% of theatre staff report that music benefits communication between team members, reducing anxiety levels and improving efficiency. Music also appears to enhance surgical performance by increasing task focus, particularly among surgeons who listen to music regularly.
They suggest tracks such as Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees, Smooth Operator by Sade ("a must for all theatre mix-tapes"), Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd, and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham ("best played in recovery").
Songs best avoided include Another One Bites the Dust by Queen, Everybody Hurts by REM, and Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chilli Peppers ("plastic surgeons should avoid this at all cost").
Critics argue that music "consumes cognitive bandwidth, reduces vigilance, impairs communication, and proves a distraction when anaesthetic problems are encountered," say the authors. "We, however, embrace music in the operating theatre whenever the situation allows it."
Do you think your surgical playlist is the perfect one? Share yours in a rapid response (with a spotify link, or just a list), and see what others are listening to at bmj.com/playlists. We'll collate all of them together on our spotify account the-bmj - follow us to hear them all.
A second article, written by a duet of father (medical writer) and son (medical student) finds that doctors are frequently mentioned in pop lyrics. But the way they are portrayed is not very flattering to the profession.
Only around a third of songs show doctors as carer or healer, and most of these lyrics relate to a metaphorical role in curing love sickness and broken hearts (as in the Rolling Stones' Dear Doctor).
Just as frequently, doctors are portrayed as having unprofessional relationships with patients, often of a sexual nature. In partial defence of the profession, these relationships (real or imaginary) are sometimes initiated by patients. In Goodness Gracious Me, Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers experience a charming misunderstanding along these lines.
But at other times the relationship is far less innocent and doctors take the lead. Little is left to the imagination in Lady Doctor by Graham Parker and the Rumour, or in Fairport Convention's Doctor of Physick.
And then there are songs (from the USA) which show doctors as money-grabbing. And a few suggest they deal in illicit drugs. This is inferred in the Beatles' Dr Robert but is most graphically seen in Dr Feelgood's Down at the Doctors.
Doctors play a uniquely intimate part in all our lives. For many of us, their skills and commitment are life saving. But, overall, popular songs show scant sympathy for the profession. An exception is Bob Dylan' s Motorpsycho Nightmare in which the singer is accused of being a travelling salesman. "No," he says, "I'm a doctor, and it's true. I'm a clean cut kid, and I been to college too."
INFORMATION:
Sex differences in risk seeking behaviour, emergency hospital admissions, and mortality are well documented. Males are more likely to be admitted to an emergency department after accidential injuries, more likely to be admitted with a sporting injury, and more likely to be involved in a fatal road traffic collision.
However, little is known about sex differences in idiotic risk taking behaviour. So researchers in north east England decided to test "male idiot theory" (MIT) that many of the differences in risk seeking behaviour may be explained by the observation that ...
In fact, political centrists would do well to stop 'sitting on the fence' and boost their physical activity levels to improve their health, say the researchers.
The term "armchair socialist" was coined in the 19th century by German economists who scoffed at academics advocating social policy, dubbing them "socialists of the chair" (Kathedersozialisten).
The term has since evolved to describe middle class people who talk a lot about politics but who aren't politically active in any way, and fail to "walk the talk."
The concept has been widely adopted, prompting several ...
Fed up with complaints about the lack of up to date magazines in the waiting room of his general practice, Professor Bruce Arroll and colleagues set out to answer the question. Their findings are published in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.
A total of 87 magazines were stacked into three mixed piles and placed in the waiting room of a general practice in Auckland, New Zealand. They included non-gossipy magazines (Time magazine, the Economist, Australian Women's Weekly, National Geographic, BBC History) and gossipy ones (defined as having five or more photographs of celebrities ...
Inspired by the story of King Canute - the 11th century king who tried to command the tide to turn back - Westgate Medical Practice in Dundee decided to stop fighting the tide and let patients have appointments when they wanted. Their findings are published in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.
Each morning, all patients telephoning for soon, immediate, or urgent care were invited to attend a daily appointment "pool" at 10.30am.
Reception staff invited patients, if they wished, to state the clinical problem and which GP they normally saw. Patients were advised that they ...
Highlights
In patients on dialysis, cinacalcet reduced the rate of bone fracture by 16% to 29%, after accounting for patient characteristics and other factors.
Washington, DC (December 11, 2014) -- A drug that mimics calcium and lowers parathyroid levels may help prevent bone fractures in patients with kidney failure who are on dialysis, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).
Patients with kidney failure who are undergoing dialysis have an increased risk of bone fractures, and the risk of ...
Stroke is Australia's second biggest killer after coronary heart disease, but rates of a common type of stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), appear to be falling, according to a UNSW study that is the largest of its kind in Australia.
ICH accounts for about 15% of all strokes. Close to 40% of patients will die within 30 days and significant disability is common in survivors.
The improvement in the incidence of ICH may be the result of the widespread implementation of proven prevention and treatment programs, the researchers say.
The large retrospective, observational ...
The most ambitious genetic study ever undertaken on bird evolution has found that almost all modern birds diversified after the dinosaurs became extinct 66 million years ago.
"The popular view until now has been that the extraordinary diversity of birds began during the dinosaur age but we found little support for this," said Associate Professor Simon Ho, from the University of Sydney who led a major component of the research looking at evolutionary timescale.
An international collaboration of scientists worked for four years to sequence, assemble and compare the ...
People with a high level of education who complain about memory lapses have a higher risk for stroke, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.
"Studies have shown how stroke causes memory complaints," said Arfan Ikram, M.D., associate professor of neuroepidemiology at Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Netherlands. "Given the shared underlying vascular pathology, we posed the reverse question: 'Do memory complaints indicate an increased risk of strokes?'"
As part of the Rotterdam Study (1990-93 and 2000-01), 9,152 participants 55 ...
Children with public insurance waited longer after initial evaluation for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) to undergo polysomnography (PSG, the gold standard diagnostic test) and also waited longer after PSG to have surgery to treat the condition with adenotonsillectomy (AT) compared with children who were privately insured, according to a report published online by JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.
Low socioeconomic status (SES) is a barrier to quality care and improved health outcomes. SDB is a spectrum of sleep disruption that ranges from snoring to obstructive ...
EAST LANSING, Mich. - It's well known that chemotherapy helps fight cancer. It's also known that it wreaks havoc on normal, healthy cells.
Michigan State University scientists are closer to discovering a possible way to boost healthy cell production in cancer patients as they receive chemotherapy. By adding thymine - a natural building block found in DNA - into normal cells, they found it stimulated gene production and caused them to multiply.
The study can be found online in the journal Molecular Cell.
"In most cases, cancer patients who receive chemotherapy lose ...
