TAPED THERAPEUTIC SUGGESTIONS AND TAPED MUSIC AS ADJUNCTS IN THE CAREOF CORONARY-ARTERY-BYPASS PATIENTS

A randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled trial examined the be nefits of taped therapeutic suggestions and taped music in coronary-ar tery-bypass patients. Sixty-six patients listened to either suggestion tapes or music tapes, intraoperatively and postoperatively; 29 patien ts listened to blank tapes intraoperatively and listened to no tapes p ostoperatively. Half the patients who listened to a tape found it help ful. There were no significant differences between groups in length of SICU or postoperative hospital stay, narcotic usage, nurse ratings of anxiety and progress, depression, activities of daily living, or card iac symptoms. There were no significant differences in these same outc omes between the patients who were helped by the tapes and the patient s not helped. These results suggest that if taped therapeutic suggesti ons have a measurable effect upon cardiac surgery patients, demonstrat ing this effect will require more detailed patient evaluations to iden tify subgroups of patients responsive to this type of intervention.