Music Interventions During Wide-Awake Hand Surgery

Overview

The purpose of this study is to examine if patients have a lower anxiety level during wide awake hand surgery while listening to their choice of music vs standardized relaxation music. Patients who are planning to undergo wide awake (local anesthetic only hand surgery) and agree to participate will be randomized to either a music intervention where they listen to their choice of music genre or standardized relaxation music during their time in the operating room. 170 participants will be enrolled and can expect to be on study for 2 weeks.

Music has been shown to decrease anxiety and pain during surgery. Wide awake local anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) surgery on the hand is gaining popularity due to efficiency, cost savings and patient safety. Despite the popularity of WALANT, it still can be anxiety producing even for patients who choose to proceed with surgery without sedation. Music has been shown to decrease anxiety during surgery, but patients' music choices vary widely. The frequency (Hz) of the music intervention has been shown to impact pain reduction, and patient choice of music has been shown to increase sense of control which can decrease anxiety. No study has evaluated the intraoperative effect of patient choice of music vs standardized relaxation music on intraoperative anxiety. The primary objective of this research is to compare the effect of patient music choice vs standardized relaxation music played during surgery on anxiety levels in patients undergoing WALANT hand surgery. The investigators hypothesize that standardized relaxation music will result in reduced anxiety compared to patient's choice of music.