A survey conducted by U.S. researchers found physicians and surgeons differ on what type of music is played during surgical procedures.
The study was published in the journal Surgery. Senior author, Claudius Conrad, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said because music is frequently played during operations, the implications of music in the operating room are clinically relevant and need to be better researched.
The researchers gave musical preference questionnaires to 282 preoperative patients and 390 providers, including attending physicians, residents and nurses in anesthesiology and surgery.
Here are five notes:
1. Three-quarters of patients reported a high level of music enjoyment, and most often favored rock, classics and top 40 genres. The operations they were having ranged from very minor to major surgery.
2. More than 40 percent of patients thought music should be played often in the operating room, and most felt the music choice should be up to the surgeon or operating team.
3. Attending physicians tended to prefer classical music over other genres like hip-hop or electronic music.
4. Nurses and surgeons tended to prefer music at higher volume than residents and attending physicians, while those in surgery also preferred louder music than those in anesthesiology, who preferred blues or jazz.
5. Surgery providers most often select the music that plays in the operating room.