Music therapy in the NICU and pediatrics: a program proposal for Stony Brook Children’s Hospital

Abstract

I am proposing a music therapy program for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and pediatric/adolescent medicine unit at the newly built children’s hospital, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, which will soon be open to the public, located on the Stony Brook University Hospital campus. I have witnessed the impact of music therapy enhance the lives of the young patients and their families at Stony Brook University Hospital throughout my internship on the pediatric unit. Currently, there is one board-certified music therapist in the hospital who predominantly works in adult psychiatry. It would be beneficial to hire a music therapist or eventually, a team of music therapists, to work specifically in pediatrics and the NICU. Fortunately, during my internship, I was trained to work with hospitalized children through guidance of the child life specialists, as well as with the infants in the NICU. As it stands, in a 603 bed hospital it is impossible for one music therapist to provide care to all of the patients and their families who might benefit. With the addition of a pediatric hospital to the Stony Brook University Hospital campus, it is essential that a music therapist, or music therapists, are hired to work specifically with the pediatric population.