Music helps distract kids from painful procedures: study

TORONTO -- A new study suggests music helps distract children who are about to undergo painful procedures in a hospital emergency room setting.

The work found that children experienced less distress and pain while having an intravenous line inserted if music was playing in the treatment room.

And health-care providers reported they found it easier to set up the IV line when their young charges were distracted by tunes.

The research was led by Lisa Hartling, director of the Alberta Research Centre for Health Evidence, and was published in this week's issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Children in the study were played the same four songs, ranging from classical music to the "Sesame Street" theme song.

Hartling says she hopes the research inspires other groups to use and investigate the role music can play in facilitating the care of children.