PATIENTS should be offered the chance to listen to music during procedures to reduce pain and anxiety, according to a leading surgeon.
Bhaskar Somani, a consultant urological surgeon at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said it was a “practical, cheap and harmless”
intervention which also increased patients’ satisfaction and willingness to undergo treatment again in the future.
He said: “In the modern era, the volume of urological procedures delivered on an outpatient basis has risen and many of these are carried out under local anaesthesia.
“However, the experience of undergoing such procedures – not just in urology but across specialties – while awake can cause pain and anxiety.”
The Southampton-led analysis, published in the Journal of Urology, found a reduction in pain and anxiety among patients who listened to music in 90 per cent of the studies
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