Paris, October 7 (editions) –
Who does not like music? He has “powers” ahead of us. It can make us disconnect from everything around us, and it can help us relax, escape, and have fun, as well as take care of our health.
Marisa Blasco is president of the Valencian Society of Intensive Care Medicine. and chief of intensive care medicine services at Clínico Hospital in Valencia, and in an interview with Infosalus she tells us how music can help a sick person.
“In an intensive care setting, for sure. The moment someone walks in and plays a song, the music is live, and also if you personalize it, that gives the patient a moment of reassurance; This hospital stay makes a more joyful and relaxing space, and the music makes it possible to forget about the illness for which he is hospitalized.It confirms that it reduces the level of uncertainty and anxiety in patients.
In the case of sedated patients, she is convinced that music, especially live music, will help them, as she reminds us, “the ear is there”, “… the patient’s hearing is there.”It is the last thing to be lost and the first to be recovered.” As well as for those who are in a state of delirium or encephalopathy.
“Music can bring them back to reality. Music wakes us all up, and the sick too. And in such dangerous situations, this will certainly help improve their situation.Adds this employee at Musicians for Health.
fun environment
According to him, there are two very powerful weapons for helping patients in intensive care units: on the one hand, relatives, and on the other hand, a pleasant environment, making spaces more comfortable with small parties and activities of all kinds that bring them into contact with reality, and help them escape from this The situation they are in is extremely dangerous.
for example, Dr. Blasco brings up the case of a young girl suffering from encephalopathy due to cardiac arrest outside the hospital.Who, after live concerts in the intensive care unit, began to feel connected to the environment: “I smiled. If we were almost convinced of the benefits of live music for these patients, we would be convinced of the usefulness of this instrument. I don’t know if it will cure or not, but it certainly improves the quality of stay for patients. as well as disease. It is not only about curing the disease, but also about context and a healthier and friendly environment, and music certainly contributes to that.“.
For any medical specialty
In addition, the president of the Valencian Society of Intensive Medicine believes that live music can be beneficial in all medical specialties, particularly those involving continuity and permanence. She notes that, for example, live concerts are given in her hospital at the oncology day hospital, in dialysis units or in psychiatry. ” The Music, if it makes everyone smile and puts us in a good mood, is more than that for the sick. It is a very powerful toolShe insists.
A huge fan of concerts, she says that live music has nothing to do with the same song sung by the same person in the studio as in a live performance, where the feeling is conveyed.
She also says that in this context there is the demand, the customization, the fact that at that moment this patient is asking for a particular song, or … A family member says that there is a special song in that person’s life, which almost everyone has. So she is convinced that music helps patients reduce hospital stays and morbidity.
On the other hand, the head of the Intensive Medicine Service at the Clinico de Valencia, who was asked why there is no music in hospitals and health centers due to its benefits, replied emphasizing the difference between “minimum and maximum: “It is clear that a person who does not offer music to his patients is not Wrong, our comprehensive public health system is very good and not delivered across the board, which doesn’t mean we can’t aspire to extremes where care and standards are extreme.”
That’s what he thinks happens with things like music.According to him, “It is a standard to which we must aspire with the greatest degree of excellence,” but it is not a minimum standard to which we should all aspire. He also notes that this procedure is now recommended by the World Health Organization, which is not mandatory.
Concretely, as the Musicians for Health Foundation states, according to a study by the Music Therapy and Health Foundation, small concerts can reduce anxiety by 27% and increase patient well-being by 88%.
He also notes that in 2019, The World Health Organization, through its Arts and Health Evidence Network report, has conducted for the first time a large-scale study of the benefits of live arts and music on our physical and mental health.which found sufficient evidence for: “the potential value of the arts in contributing to the underlying determinants of health; playing an essential role in promoting health; helping to prevent the onset of mental illness and age-related physical decline; supporting the treatment or management of mental illness, non-communicable diseases, and neurological disorders; and assisting with care acute and end-of-life.”
