Music therapy--a complementary treatment for mechanically ventilated intensive care patients.

The aim of this study was to ascertain whether music therapy had a measurable relaxing effect on patients who were temporarily on a respirator in an intensive care unit (ICU) and after completion of respirator treatment investigate those patients' experiences of the music therapy. In the study both quantitative and qualitative measurements were applied. Twenty patients were included using consecutive selection. It became apparent that the patients remembered very little of their time in ICU. The analysis of the quantitative data showed a significant fall in systolic and diastolic blood pressure during the music therapy session and a corresponding rise after cessation of treatment. All changes were found to be statistically significant. The conclusion was that intensive care nursing staff can beneficially apply music therapy as a non-pharmacological intervention.