Hola a tod@s, my dear friends.

In the same sense of last week post, Raising the volume: Music in ICU, Guillaume Decormeille, nurse in Toulouse, wants to share with us a beautiful experience that are developing in his ICU.

From Spain, The IC-HU Project is very grateful with you because of sharing your experience. Congratulations and keep in on!.

“In the new UCI of the Universitary Hospital of Toulouse – Rangueil, architectural conception allows to externalize all the alarms of the rooms. Each room is minimum of 20 m2, it complies with the regulations of WHO of 40 dB by night and 55dB during the day. The ambient noise of the service is between 50 and 65 DB.

We are doing studies on the impact of noise or silence on the patients, family, and the alarm management (a well calibrated alarm is a safe patient, and that is a quality item), a project between the region and the health agency has made it possible to finance two violinists who come to play once a month (for the moment) in the room of patients who want.



Those violinists do not touch known songs or a great classic song, touch to the senses of patients and improvise. They don’t speak, just listen and play together. They play between 10 and 15 min per patient, only to those who want or we ask the families to play when the person sick this unconscious.

At the moment no we have measured scientifically vital parameters of the patients. But watching it live and 3 hours later, the heart rate, stress and the consumption of hypnotics and analgesics improve significantly.

On the other hand, sometimes do not like our nurses too. As the music is entirely improvised, it may seem a bit unpleasant for some of my colleagues.

Before we came into our ICU and everything was noisy, stress, people running… And with them is all the opposite: there is a peaceful atmosphere and when you hear the violinists, even when they are away, that gives another face, another image of a critical service where patients and families spend together a critical life stage.

These new acts clearly humanize our units. In addition, professionals work in other conditions, with low stress and it promotes the well being of all equipment.”

A large project with a small act but a breakthrough for patients and critical care.”


As Guillaume shows us…Simply: it can be done.

Happy Wednesday,
Gabi