Bethany Selin is a nursing student at the University of Arkansas. She joined Dr. Weymiller’s service learning course in spring 2018, where she worked with dementia patients at NWA Veterans […]
Bethany Selin is a nursing student at the University of Arkansas. She joined Dr. Weymiller’s service learning course in spring 2018, where she worked with dementia patients at NWA Veterans Home. She continued with her project on music and memory intervention in the fall for her Honors Thesis. Below is her reflection for this class.
“When we first learned about music and memory, I was thrilled to begin the process of developing a personalized playlist for my patient in hopes that it would resolve some of his issues. It was not until a few weeks into the project, that I learned my patient did not experience aggressive behavior until the night time, so I had nothing to worry about because during the day, he was an angel. I wish that the staff would have implemented music and memory at night to see if the interventions could have really helped his tantrums, but instead they resorted to tranquilizing him to the point he would only sleep. I really enjoyed all of the time I got to spend with him and loved to sing along to Johnny Cash and George Strait. I could tell listening to his old favorites brought him a lot of joy.
When we first met, I noticed he was sleepy, and unsure about the whole musical intervention, but after a few times of listening, I could see that he remembered me and was excited to listen to the old country one on one. There was one song in particular called “The Dance” by Garth Brooks, and he told me he wanted to play it at his funeral, so when I played it for him, I could tell by his tears that this song meant a lot to him. There were many songs that would go by, and he would just smile at me, and I knew that I was making a difference. I really hope that they played “The Dance” at his funeral, because I think he would have appreciated it. I am upset that our time together was cut short, but this experience will push me in my career to find alternative interventions, before jumping to heavy medication.
My patient taught me that even in the darkest place, when all hope seems lost, there is still time to enjoy old favorites and reminisce on fond memories. Another experience with music and memory that I will never forget, was the time I was able to intervene with music for an agitated patient with dementia. When the agitation started, Dr. Weymiller immediately asked if I would go and grab his music. Upon returning, the patient became combative, and so two of the other nurses and myself moved him to a quiet area and put on his headphones and began playing the Catholic hymns he so loved. The other nurses left, and then it was up to me to settle him down. He held my hand tightly and became combative with me for the first 10 minutes, but once he realized I was there to help, he began to cry. He listened to the music and knew the words to a few of the songs, but then fell asleep. Once he woke up, he was a new person, completely calm and happy to see me. This is an example of the fact that medication does not always have to be the answer. If they would have given him a sedative, the same result would have happened after 20 minutes, but with this method, he does not have to be in a constant state of sedation. This intervention practice should not even be looked at as an “alternative”, but rather the first choice intervention, because it has the ability to work just as well, if not better, than medicine.”
**It is so saddened that her Music and Memory resident died in the week prior to the last clinical day at the VA Home.