Overriding the ‘Culture of Music’ in the OR

Dr. Gearhead| March 2024 Overriding the 'Culture of Music' in the OR Robin Hocevar Robin Hocevar Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar ASA Monitor March 2024, Vol. 88, 34. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0001008316.49443.f8 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Cite Icon Cite Get Permissions Search Site Citation Robin Hocevar; Overriding the 'Culture of Music' in the OR. ASA Monitor 2024; 88:34 doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0001008316.49443.f8 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll PublicationsASA Monitor Search Advanced Search Topics: music It's every anesthesiologist's worst nightmare. On a Friday afternoon, a teenage boy presents to the OR for a routine ACL surgery. The surgical team worked while listening to music and chatting about weekend plans. Nobody on the team could hear the descending pitch of the pulse oximeter over the sound of the music. The young man would suffer an anoxic brain injury and die two days later. The anesthesiologist left medical practice for good. There's a great deal of "OR folklore" on the dangers of music in the OR, but researchers have been sounding the alarm for years. The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recommended level for continuous background noise in hospitals is 45 decibels (dB), but most surgical areas operate at a much louder volume. Orthopedic and neurosurgery are the worst offenders, with higher sustained continuous background noise levels and intermittent peak levels exceeding 100dB more than 40% of the... You do not currently have access to this content.