A program of person-centered therapeutic music for in-the-moment comfort care that creates a healing, nurturing environment.
Our certified therapeutic musicians and certified clinical musicians are available to serve nursing home residents in most counties in the state of Florida. We have musicians located in the counties of Collier, Sarasota, Orange, Seminole, Citrus, and Pasco. We also offer remote therapeutic music services via interactive telecommunications to other counties.
GOALS
- We are dedicated to improving the quality of life of Florida nursing home residents who are facing the challenges of cognitive or neurological disorders, isolation, and/or imminent end of life.
- We are developing and implementing ways to reduce social isolation and improve quality of life during times of facility lockdown through the use of innovative remote telecommunications methods.
- We are committed to improving customer satisfaction, as experienced and reported by nursing home residents and their families, with the quality of care received.
Harmonies in Health is dedicated to measurably improving the quality of life of Florida nursing home residents who are facing challenges of cognitive or neurological disorders, social isolation, and/or imminent end of life.
In addition to providing one-to-one bedside delivery of live therapeutic music to residents, we bring solutions to reduce social isolation and improve quality of life during times of facility lockdown through the use of innovative remote telecommunications methods. These methods enable remote delivery of therapeutic music with live in-the-moment presence.
Our focus includes supporting skilled nursing homes in all counties across Florida, with emphasis on supporting nursing homes in underserved rural areas which are often experiencing resource challenges. We are committed to improving quality of life of residents, as evidenced by measurable improvement to customer satisfaction with quality of care.
APPROACH
We work closely with nursing home administrators and resident and family councils to implement a unique approach for each facility to meet resident needs, based on the input from the facility management, staff, residents and families. This enables us to implement and evaluate program activities using data that is meaningful to residents, and implementation methodologies that meet the needs of those we serve.
When possible, we build upon previous successful programs that have invested in technology such as Apple IPads, adding value.
COLLABORATION & IMPLEMENTATION
The Therapeutic Musician serves as part of the interdisciplinary healthcare and comfort care team to establish the highest level of care for nursing home residents. The only action required of the resident is to grant permission for the music. The resident need not do anything else other than relax and listen to the therapeutic music. The resident may fall asleep due to a relaxed state; that is a benefit for many residents who suffer from difficulty attaining rejuvenating sleep.
OUTCOMES / BENEFICIARIES
Nursing home residents directly benefit with prescriptive therapeutic music that affords in-the-moment comfort care with measurable positive improvement to physical, social and emotional well-being.
The therapeutic music also positively impacts families and nursing home staff, as well as the entirety of the nursing home care-giving experience, improving morale, as it creates a soothing environment conducive to well-being that can further enhance quality of care.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
We coordinate with the nursing home life enrichment team to document the many positive impacts of the therapeutic music. Surveys are used for qualitative and quantitative assessment of the resident's physical, social and emotional wellbeing and customer satisfaction with the nursing home environment in response to the Healing Harmonies program.
DELIVERABLES
The primary deliverable of the Healing Harmonies program is therapeutic music by highly qualified and trained certified music practitioners to improve the quality of life, including improvement to social, emotional and physical well-being, of the residents of nursing homes across Florida.
Other deliverables include best practice guidance for musicians consistent with the ethical standards for practice and codes of conduct of the therapeutic music programs certified by the National Standards Board of Therapeutic Musicians. These are developed to meet the needs of the specific facilities we serve, and will add to the body of knowledge of nursing homes and music practitioners, providing experientially-based guidance addressing the logistics of skilled nursing home environments. Our nonprofit partners are prepared to support dissemination.
Program Evaluation
Healing Harmonies is a person-centered program, and we use resident and family surveys to evaluate the improvements to quality of life as a result of the therapeutic music services we provide.
With input from resident and family councils, we adapt survey instruments that were developed with joint support of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, agencies under the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Nursing Home Survey templates address quality of life and customer satisfaction, with specific survey questions formulated for long term care residents, discharged residents, and family members. With understanding of the data that is meaningful to residents and their family members, input from nursing home staff, and approval from the Internal Research Board (IRB) we may use surveys that include and adapt those questions that are applicable to our therapeutic music services and the person-centered comfort care we provide. The demonstrated positive results can support continued funding for therapeutic music services as an intervention for comfort-care.
Healing Harmonies uses a collaborative process involving resident, families, staff and nursing home administration to meet unique needs of nursing home environments. Other CMS resources may be adapted to achieve, assess and document qualitative and quantitative improvements in customer satisfaction due to the impact of therapeutic music. For example, these may include documentation of positive impacts to staff morale. For example, CMS Toolkit 2: Nursing Home Employee Satisfaction Survey was designed to help nursing homes recruit, motivate and retain staff that are critical to better resident health and quality of life. If resident and facility collaboration identifies need and desire for assessment of improvements to staff morale, the survey questions would be modified to directly address the impact of the therapeutic services. CMS Toolbox resources will be considered for use and adapted based on collaborative input to identify data that is meaningful to the residents and facilities.
We limit qualitative and quantitative evaluation to assessing impact of our own therapeutic music services.