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March 11, 2008

iPods in the O.R.

NPR | Read Full Story >

To the strains of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” Dr. Gawande’s team busily prepares the area on the patient’s neck for the operation.

“So, if you were trained in an era where this is a silent cathedral, that’s how you practice surgery. Technologically, in my training, it was an era where we suddenly had iPods.”

Dr. Gawande flips through the playlists on his iPod.

“My OR playlists are called ‘The safe mix 1, 2, 3,‘and I just keep adding to them over time, meaning that they’re safe enough for the OR,” explains Dr. Gawande, chuckling again. “For it to be safe for the OR, I have to know that there aren’t going to be any themes that will be incredibly embarrassing; not an excess of foul language. Something like this song, ‘Crazy’ is perfect. I try to have a mix of things, that have some quiet songs, and then some danceable songs, just enough to kind of keep the energy going.”

Dr. Gawande makes an incision at the base of the patient’s neck while the senior resident cauterizes the small blood vessels beneath the skin, anticipating his every move.

“If the music is working well, every three or four songs, there’s something that somebody in the room likes, and that’s enough that it makes it so that good people want to be in my room, and they aren’t making requests to be in some other room.”


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