A Quality Improvement Project: Providing Music Therapy for Premature Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Preterm infants require adequate positive auditory stimulation for their development. Music therapy (MT) offers several benefits. Recorded music is recommended when live music is unavailable. This quality improvement project aimed to provide recorded MT to preterm infants.

The team led this quality improvement project in a level IV neonatal intensive care unit from December 2022 to April 2024, with the aim that within 6 months of starting it, 50% of preterm infants born at a gestational age of less than 32 weeks who met physiological stability criteria would receive MT sessions. The Plan-Do-Study-Act model included interventions such as educating neonatal intensive care unit staff and providers about MT, creating memory aids, and streamlining documentation. Recorded Mozart music was played through bedside speakers 3 times a week for 30-minute sessions. The outcome measure tracked the percentage of eligible infants who received MT. Process measures evaluated the percentage of MT sessions provided. Balancing measures included the termination of MT due to clinical instability.

Eighty-seven infants received MT. The mean birth gestational age of the infants was 28.4 weeks. MT was initiated at a mean postmenstrual age of 33.4 weeks and continued until a mean age of 39.1 weeks. The percentage of infants receiving MT increased from 50% in the first month to 100% and stayed at a mean of 94.2%. The number of eligible MT sessions received per infant was 41.9% (average of 6.7 sessions). A total of 76.7% of nurses identified no barriers, and parents reported satisfaction with the MT program.

Recorded MT can be effectively provided. Multidisciplinary teamwork is required to sustain efforts in providing MT sessions.