Take Note With Inova
Inova explores benefits of medical music therapy program
Music therapy has the power to improve our physical and psychological health. This is the basis for the partnership between A Place to Be and a special music therapy program offered at Inova Loudoun Hospital, Inova Fair Oaks Hospital (IFOH) and Inova Fairfax Medical Campus.
“We’re not just playing music to make patients happy. We choose our music carefully — using it as a clinical tool to help meet a patient’s individual physiological or psychological needs,” explains Raymond Leone, MMT, MT-BC, music therapist and Director of Medical Music Therapy at A Place to Be.
Julie Hudtloff, CPXP, CEC, Patient Experience Manager at IFOH, often asks patients how a music therapy session affected them. “Music therapy can help soothe anxiety, stress, agitation and, in some cases, help with pain management,” she says.
A small 2018 Inova research study on music therapy in intensive care unit patients revealed these benefits along with positive effects on patients’ blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and respiration. The report was recently published in the American Journal of Critical Care.
Music to Our Ears
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I was a patient of Inova Hospital Landsdowne and their music therapy program for me while in ICU helped me cope with extreme anxiety and improved mood and decreased depression dramatically in addition to the physical benefits. I have used the program twice in the last year and would highly recommend this become a standard part of treatment for patients and would love to see the program extended to cover patients on the step-down units as well.