Podiatry AND Music


by Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
Joined practice July 2006 of
John K Throckmorton, DPM
Lansing, Michigan

So, you’ve just read the title of this editorial, and you’re probably thinking, “Shapiro is scraping the barrel for topics.  Doesn’t he have anything else to write about?”  I’ll ask you to hang in with me for a minute.  Music is, in fact, an important topic for us new docs.  The question I ask the podiatric community is: Does music have a place in the podiatric office and surgical arenas?

Let’s start with the office.  In my office we have a radio receiver which pipes local radio stations into each of the rooms.  We try to keep the volume at a tasteful level, but there have been times where I questioned the professionalism of this.  For example, when I am doing a nail procedure on a patient, they are often nervous due to anticipated pain of the injection and procedure. 

I try very hard to create a calm, stable environment.  Often, I’ll even turn off the lights, turn on the xray viewbox, and run the water. For those patients that need this calm environment, hearing Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” overhead does not help.  Is music really appropriate in this case? Probably not.

On the other hand, most of our patients seem to appreciate the lighter, less formal environment that the overhead radio provides. One day recently I actually had a patient complain to me because there was no holiday music on. Just that morning, during a Grinch-like moment, I had requested that my office staff avoid the holiday music for the day. I was tired of hearing “Chestnuts roasting on an Open Fire.”  Three hours later a patient complains “it’s the holidays—you should be playing holiday music.”  Sometimes you just can’t win.

What about the OR?  This seems to vary significantly from surgeon to surgeon.  Personally, I like to have some music in the OR.  I tell my staff that I’m OK with music, but that music has to be turned off when the patient enters and leaves the room.  I’m going to take the devil’s advocate for a moment and present a counterargument.   In Robert Pirsig’s excellent novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance he criticizes a repair shop he comes across because they are listening to music while repairing motorcycles.  He argues the music is a distraction, pulling mechanics’ attention away from the task at hand.  If this is true for car repair, perhaps it’s even more so for surgery which I would argue requires a somewhat greater level of concentration.

On the other hand, music for many people provides a centering influence, perhaps providing background noise that assists, rather than distracts, the surgeon.  For these doctors music becomes an essential tool, reducing an already stressful environment.  Music can then be considered an instrument for adequately performing the surgical task, just as important as a Senn retractor or scalpel blade.

In spite of your personal opinion, music has been a part of the human experience for thousands of years.  It’s an integral part of who we are and it does deserve at least a passing thought when it comes to high quality, professional medical care.  Happy listening!



Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
PRESENT New Docs Editor
[email protected]

 
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