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  in Health IT, we are discussing kindness and music, transforming healthcare beyond technology. My name is Sarah Richardson, and I'm a former CIO for Silver Healthcare Systems, most notably within HCA and Optum, and now president of the This Week Health 229 Executive Development Community, where we host a series of channels and events dedicated to transforming healthcare, one connection.

And I am joined by Kate Gamble, Managing Editor here at This Week Health. Kate, welcome to the show and happy Friday. Thank you, Sarah. Happy Friday to you. Absolutely. And I love this article, kindness and music transforming healthcare beyond technology. in a recent discussion, Paul Serrato and John Halamka from the Mayo Clinic platform underscore the importance of kindness and music in healthcare.

positioning them as vital to patient outcomes alongside digital health technologies. They highlight that research demonstrates that acts of kindness can alleviate mental health issues, notably more effectively than other social interventions, while also fostering a culture of positivity. The author's note, the therapeutic benefits of music supported by systematic reviews confirm its efficacy in treating depression.

The overarching message is that compassion and creativity are essential components that enhance both patient care and the healthcare experience. So Kate, I will ask you, does music foster a culture of positivity? So personally, I think it absolutely does. I can't think of how many times where I've put on music and just started to feel more calm, but that's just, on my level.

So what this is talking about is how. First of all, acts of kindness. They can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, increase happiness and self esteem, and decrease stress. And research show that kindness is contagious, encouraging recipients to be more generous themselves. And I think that's the kind of thing that someone might hear and say it sounds a little, mumbo jumbo or whatnot, but it's true.

How many times have you had somebody do something nice for you and it lifts your spirits and inspires you to do the same. So I really like that. And on a side note, John Holonka he is somebody who really does embody kindness. He has an alpaca farm, for goodness sakes. That's awesome that he does in his spare time.

But this is so interesting in so many ways. It also looks at the healing effects of music. Music therapy can provide short term beneficial effects for people with depression and reduce behavioral and psychological of dementia. Patients with Alzheimer's have shown improved communication and engagement when exposed to familiar music.

That's really powerful. And that's something that I think healthcare organizations can take advantage of. the human connection, emphasizing kindness, and music and fostering a sense of family and respect among individuals, enhancing the overall healthcare experience. You're absolutely right. I'm a huge fan of acts of kindness regularly, whether that's handing out blessing bags to people in need that are homeless or standing by at local, honestly, the grocery store corner, whether it's getting them a gift card for groceries, things like that.

But you also think about Music, truly, when you hear certain songs, it does nothing but uplift you and how healing it can be in so many different ways. And as you introduce this into your facilities, it can create the human bond, that extra connection that we talked about, where you're already there from a lens of kindness and caregiving, and then you add in music and you're learning about things that are important to the patient, it's strengthening that bond.

And really creating an opportunity to connect at a different level that's beyond just wellness and sickness. And when I consider how as a CIO I could support this type of activity in the facility, when you can incorporate programs that promote kindness in music, They're complementary to technology.

They lead to comprehensive patient care. It's more of a integration of a holistic approach. You obviously are going to enhance the That human centered care strategy can improve patient satisfaction and outcomes, and it aligns with organizational goals and a big one that you and I discuss often supporting mental health initiatives, implementing initiatives that address mental health through kindness and music can reduce clinician burnout.

and improve staff well being. Kate, I have to ask You're in the facility and you are playing music, caring for patients today. What are you going to be listening to? Oh, wow. So I'm a child of the seventies and my go to is Neil Diamond. I am proud. And I'll tell you what, if you ever go to a musical, especially the Neil Diamond musical, find someone coming out of there with a frown on their face and I'll pay you a hundred bucks.

But in a more serious light, there is something to this 100%. I have been in hospitals where they're playing soft music, and you can see the effects on people, on the patients, on the staff. And this is something that Doesn't cost a lot of money. This is a low cost that can yield significant benefits.

And, that's an attractive option for anyone, especially resource constrained organizations. And even when you look at tailoring music therapy to individual cultural backgrounds, That can enhance effectiveness and patient acceptance. And I, Neil Diamond's not for everyone, but he's for me.

I'm going to challenge you on that. I believe he is for everybody, because as soon as you said that, I was like, all the different songs going through my head and how much I absolutely love his music. We have tickets to his show. It'll be coming to San Francisco next spring. We have the season. And it was one of my favorite shows my mom and I used to go to we would go to Neil Diamond and rock out and that guy he's still alive.

He's not performing anymore because of Parkinson's. But literally I think he was in his late 60s when she and I went to his last show together. My goodness, he was still like killing it, literally like amazing. And you walk out of that show with generations of like nostalgia and fun. So it sounds like if you and I are going to ever have patient care or a facility where we are caring for others, we're probably going to have some robots in the mix.

We're definitely going to have some Neil Diamond in the mix and all of it with the lens of AI. Kindness being out there. And here's why these are important to think about in all seriousness, the training and the education. When the staff is trained on the importance of kindness and the implementation of music therapy, it can facilitate the practices that we're talking about, can measure the impact, think about the metrics we can create to assess the impact of kindness and music therapy on patient outcomes, to support their integration into care models, and then the collaborative effort.

Encouraging collaboration between clinical staff, music therapists, patients, and families that have an effectiveness in all these interventions. What if part of your intake is your favorite And then knowing that if you hear Neil Diamond, happier. And that is what we're going to make sure is part of your care plan.

Yeah, I can't really think of a better way to go into the weekend because I know that I'm going to be. Putting on some Neil after this and it will lift my spirits. And I'm hoping that this will inspire some people to leverage the power of music and see what it can do. So Paul and John, thank you for thinking about bringing these ideas forward that both kindness and music can transform health care beyond technology. Kate, thank you for joining me. And I didn't know you were a Neil Diamond fan until today, but there's one more awesome thing we have in common that we can have fun with in the future.

Thank you, Sarah. Remember to share this podcast with a friend or a colleague, use it as a foundation for daily or weekly 📍 discussions on the topics that are relevant to industry. You can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening. That's all for now.