A poor sound experience in your waiting room can cost you big time! Patient complaints for inappropriate office music or even no music decrease patient volume and patient retention rates. But you can establish a soothing environment from the moment a patient steps in your door. Put the following best practices into use so you can use office music to boost patient volume and deter complaints.

Soothe Patients with Healing Benefits of Office Music

Health concerns and medical appointments often create anxiety and fear in patients. Music has the power to bring hope and comfort to people in challenging circumstances, notes a 2011 Carnegie Hall Music and Healthcare report. Therefore, providing office music can help you care for your patients. Consider these reasons why playing overhead music in your practice can benefit both your patients and your staff:

• Music reduces stress. Waiting for appointments can be a big cause of stress and anxiety in patients, and music may be the remedy. Studies have shown that relaxing music has been found to lower cortisol levels, reports Medical News Today.
• Music eases pain. Music can provide patients a focus other than their pain, which in turn can help them get through a procedure. “In controlled clinical trials of people having colonoscopies, cardiac angiography, and knee surgery, those who listened to music before their procedure had reduced anxiety and a reduced need for sedatives,” states Beverly Merz, Harvard Health Publishing. Music isn’t just beneficial in the waiting room, either. Music benefits patients in the operating room and recovery room as well, by minimizing discomfort and lowering the need for pain medication, says Merz.
• Music creates privacy. A waiting room with no pleasant background sound distractions means patients overhear front desk discussions not intended for them. Put patients at ease by creating a buffer between front desk conversations and waiting patients with background music.

Choose Family-Friendly Office Music Options

To keep an optimally soothing environment, select music that is universally appealing and won’t offend anyone. Choose tunes that are free from explicit content or suggestive lyrics. Even if your practice serves an adult population, they may feel uncomfortable with such music, Plus, children may accompany patients in your waiting room.

Economic option: Stay tuned in to a local easy listening radio station. These play around-the-clock music appropriate for any crowd.

Be Mindful of Licensing When Choosing a Subscription Service

Subscription music services like Pandora, Spotify, and Amazon offer the ability to make playlists as well as stream stations of select music genres appropriate for your practice’s audience. Before you sign up, read the Terms and Conditions regarding licensing. For example, Spotify clearly states their service is for personal entertainment only and not for commercial use. This means it can’t be broadcast or played publicly from a business, such as radio stations, bars, restaurants, stores, etc. Copyright infringements can result in you having to pay fines for violations.

Many subscription services, however, have a business plan. For Spotify users, Soundtrack is the business solution. Other options include Pandora for business, Umi, and SiriusXM, which also has recommended healthcare music channels.

Rotate Your Office Music Playlists

Playlists offer a convenient way to select office music appropriate for your practice. Your patients aren’t the only ones to consider, though. Keep in mind your staff who will be present beyond the average patient visit. Even a lengthy playlist can become repetitive —  not to mention irritating — to staff who might work long shifts.

Mind-saving tip: Rotate playlists so office music repetition doesn’t drive staff mad.

Keep Office Music Volume Under Control

Music has the ability to alter people’s moods, lift their spirits, and calm anxiety. But even soothing music played too loudly will agitate patients.

Solution: Keep the music at a low enough volume so people can hear it. Patients should be able to carry on a conversation or read without feeling distracted.

Offer Customized Office Music Solutions

While folks in your waiting room will all hear the same tunes, patients who funnel into pre-op or recovery rooms could benefit from being able to select music to their personal liking. If you offer individualized music selection as an option, clearly indicate how patients can make such selections, and set a maximum volume so that they don’t risk disturbing other patients.

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