It may have been early in the morning on a rainy November day, but "White Christmas" could clearly be heard emanating from an operating room in Duke University Hospital North.
A bit further down the hall, there was a change of tune. Country music was escaping out from behind a steel door marked with the words DO NOT ENTER.
But behind closed doors-ironically, the name of the song playing on a non-descript white iPod-Dr. Chad Hughes and his surgical team were all business.
Hughes, a thoracic surgeon, is one of many doctors who plays music while in the operating room.
"I would say over 30 percent of our surgeons have some type of music during surgery, ranging from Christian to rock and roll to country," said Yvette West, DUH clinical operations director. The music selection is typically made by the surgeon, and several doctors at DUH routinely plug their iPods into the operating room's stereo system.
Rachael Knoll, a clinical nurse in Hughes' operating room, said she usually enjoys the music but noted that some doctors can have eccentric and wide-ranging tastes.
"We have one surgeon who brought in 'Weird Al' Yankovic," Knoll said. "One minute it can be some opera, and the next minute you're listening to some '60s.
In past years, musical selections were largely relegated to the radio. But several DUH nurses and technicians, who may be asked to adjust the volume or switch the song, noted that the advent of mp3 players has revolutionized the use of operating room music.
"We used to have big boom boxes," West said.
The use of iPods is a much more convenient and space-efficient way for surgeons to play music-a valuable advantage in a room packed with a surgical team, computers, equipment and of course, the patient, said Nelda Griggs, an operating room clinical nurse.
"Really, the best thing is when they have their iPods because it doesn't take up space," Griggs said.
But not all of Duke's surgeons approve of the practice.
"I think that the operating room should be an environment where everybody's attention is directed towards the care of the patient," said Chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery Dr. Scott Levin.Dr. Thomas D'Amico, a thoracic surgeon, described operating room music as distracting.
"When all attention needs to be focused on the patient in surgery, we keep distractions to a minimum," West said, noting that if any staff member has a problem with the music, it is immediately turned off. "But some surgeons find their music soothing, and it helps them concentrate."
Although many surgeons are flexible, West said, sometimes staff members have to "grin and bear it" if they don't like the musical selection.
But Knoll doesn't mind.
"It's a lot better than having it be really quiet in here," she said. "It's just nicer when you have music."
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