2. Methodology
Coma, Cancer
COMA, CANCER
The study aimed to investigate the effects of noise perception and the impact of environmental music therapy on 75 patients, 75 caregivers and 72 staff members via a questionnaire and interview. The patient criteria included the following groups: Cancer, Spine, General Surgery and Gynecology, and was adjusted for the severity of illness with a widely used severity index (APACHE II), meaning that patients were included in one of three groups: low, med, and high severity, graded for inclusion; with 25 per group. Staff participation was projected to include: 4 ICU Attending Physicians, 26 Surgery residents, 10 Consultant Attending Physicians, 20 Nurses, 6 Respiratory Therapists, and 6 Physician Assistants. We did not add a control group to this study as we devised a baseline research project that sought to identify what the literature has already characterized as a “hazard”; in particular, “environmental noise”. This study set out to further explicate how sound and noise are perceived by patients, caregivers and staff, and furthermore to assess and evaluate if and how music might change these perceptions in addition to attending to the actual noise on the SICU.The impact of noise on the perception of the sound environment determined by a survey for each of the groups mentioned above occurred during the initial enrollment period. The staff participants were invited by the Director of the SICU to participate and were surveyed within one to three months. Follow-up for staff included a re-evaluation during month five and six. Staff participation in the study consisted of the initial enrollment and re-evaluation survey questionnaires as well as active listening while EMT was provided to patients on the SICU. Surveys for patients and caregivers were conducted based on length of stay (LOS) and included questionnaires for both patients and caregivers during their first 24 h period; and a follow-up during their last 24 h period. In general, we tried to receive enrollment for patients and caregivers within their first 24 h of admission to the SICU or PICU as a control (no music) condition and then immediately after the post-condition (music). Staff, on the other hand, received these conditions at varying points. In cases where patients were based in the SICU for less than 24 h, every attempt was made to survey within the first few and final few hours of habitation in the SICU. Patients included those not on ventilators, with a Glasgow Coma Scale of 15 (fully alert) (See With consideration of the past 5 years’ census prior to the study start, the Physician Director of the SICU determined that 75 patients, 75 caregivers and 72 staff members was a viable number of patients, caregivers and staff to allow for sufficient data collection within a one- to three-year period. The primary investigator of the study met with the statistician who would be analyzing the data and who surmised what the outcome determinants would be for analyzing significance or otherwise.EMT based on the pilot studies carried out by Stewart and Schneider [