Music thanatologist adds Zen to medical record
Clinician creates calming spaces for patients, families and staff.
Music is medicine for the soul, but it also soothes the mind and body.
As a music-thanatologist at PeaceHealth, Kieran Schnabel uses his voice and a harp at the bedside of patients in their final hours. Music-thanatology is part of palliative and spiritual care and has been used at PeaceHealth’s hospitals in Oregon since 1997. In fact, Strings of Compassion is one of the most established music-thanatology practices in existence.
More attuned to his patients than to any musical instrument, Kieran takes special note of how patients may be feeling—which can be difficult as most can express themselves only with nonverbal cues.
“Patient’s bodies, faces, and respirations give a lot of information about their state of comfort or discomfort,” he said.
He is careful to document those signs and the care he provides in the electronic health record. “I stick to what I can observe physiologically—what I can see and hear—but I also like to put into the medical record those narratives and stories from families about the patient that other disciplines don’t often have time to capture or share.”
This cross-discipline aspect of Kieran’s work is appreciated.
“Kieran is a gifted musician and a beautiful soul. We all know how beautifully he creates a healing space for our patients, but he also creates a healing space for his colleagues in the way he documents his patient encounters,” said Amber Thorsen, RN, nurse care manager at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.
“His notes are like Zen essays that perfectly capture the relationships and emotions that I feel when I’m in the room with our patients. I find this so affirming of my work as an RN care manager because it validates the subtle but essential issues around which our work is centered,” she said.
One of the things Kieran loves most about his work is music’s positive effect on more than just the patient.
“Nurses, CNAs, and the many other disciplines that work so hard to care for more than one person can be extraordinarily stretched,” he said. Unlike medication or other physical therapies given to a single person, music can be a calming presence for any close enough to hear it.
“Music has the power to relax, comfort, and soothe many people—patients, family members, and staff. It can bring serenity to a stressful situation or honor the life and approaching death of one whose end draws near,” noted Kieran.
