Mindful Melody: feasibility of implementing music listening on an inpatient psychiatric unit and its relation to the use of as needed medications for acute agitation

BACKGROUND: In this quality improvement project, we set out to study the effectiveness and feasibility of using music as an adjunct or replacement for pharmacologic agitation management on an inpatient psychiatric unit. We hypothesized music intervention would not only assist in de-escalation/calming of agitated patients, but also reduce overall administration of PRN medications on the unit. METHOD: The project included 172 volunteer participants over 6 months: Three months without music available and 3 months with a music de-escalation option. During the latter period, patients were given the option of selecting a preferred music genre and provided with wireless headphones for up to 30 min. The number of as needed (PRN) medications administered for agitation and anxiety (including oral, sublingual, and intramuscular routes) was compiled from raw data using pharmacy records. Patients and nurses were provided with self-report surveys regarding the music intervention. RESULTS: The average weekly PRN medication administrations decreased significantly during the 3 months with music for both haloperidol (8.46 [+/− 1.79, p < 0.05] to 5.00 [+/− 1.44, p < 0.05] administrations/week) and olanzapine (9.69 [+/− 2.32, p < 0.05] to 4.62 [+/− 1.51, p < 0.05] administrations/week), compared to the 3 months prior to music implementation. There was a non-significant increase in administration of lorazepam (3.23 [+/− 1.09, p < 0.05] to 6.38 [+/− 2.46, p < 0.05] average administrations/week). The patient survey responses were 96% positive (non-neutral; either agree or strongly agree with calming effect). Nurses agreed that the project was easy to implement; 56% agreed that music helped to calm patients down. Other exploratory outcomes included observed reductions in average length of hospital stay and number of seclusion events. CONCLUSION: Music may play a significant role in reducing the utilization of PRN agitation medications on acute inpatient psychiatric units. More studies are needed to expand on these findings and explore the effect of PRN music on other therapeutic outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Protocol registration NCT04514432, retrospectively registered on 08/13/2020. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12888-021-03127-z.