Music as Medicine: Jenny Chen, Tyler Jorgensen, & Theresa Allison

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GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast 42 min 2 speakers 8 chapters transcribed 9 hours ago

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What is the overall theme of the episode and who are the three guests?

Eric Widera 0:00

This episode of the JerryPal Podcast is CME eligible.

Alex Smith 0:04

To claim credit, please go to the CME tab on jerrypal.org.

Eric Widera 0:09

Welcome to the Jerry Powell Podcast. This is Eric Wadera.

Alex Smith 0:12

This is Alex Smith. And Alex, who do we have with us today? We have some terrific guests today. We're delighted to welcome back Teresa Allison, who is a geriatrician researcher and professor of medicine at UCSF in the division of geriatrics. And Teresa studies music for people with dementia and their caregivers. Teresa, welcome back to the Jerry Powell Podcast. Thank you. And we're delighted to welcome Jenny Chen, who is a palliative care fellow at Yale. Jenny reached out to us because she plays music regularly for her patients. And she said, You should do a podcast about music. And we said, Hey, we're recording one. Come join us. And so we're delighted to have you here, Jenny.

Jenny Chen 0:51

Thank you for having me.

Alex Smith 0:53

And we're delighted to welcome Tyler Jorgensen, who's a palliative care doc, emergency medicine doc at the University of Texas Austin. He podcasts at my medical mixtape, which is only available on Spotify. And I was fortunate to record an episode of my medical mixtape with Tyler at the which meeting were we at, Tyler? Hey, we were in

Tyler Jorgensen 1:13

Denver. Yeah, A H P N Yeah, HPM.

Alex Smith 1:15

A HPM. Yes. So check that episode out. Check all the episodes out. It's a terrific podcast. Tyler, we'll have links

Eric Widera 1:22

to that on our show notes. Welcome, Tyler.

Tyler Jorgensen 1:25

Alex and Eric, thank you so much. Psyched to be here.

Eric Widera 1:27

So we got a podcast on music and medicine. And Tyler, before we jump into that, I think you have a song request for Alex.

Tyler Jorgensen 1:34

I sure do. Uh Alex, can you hit us up with Do You Realize by the Flaming Lips? Tyler, why'd you choose this song? Okay. When we started doing more music stuff for our patients in the hospital, a lot of people started to think, hmm, what would I want to listen to? And I had a a a team member say to me, My final vinyl, if I have like a final musical request. Would be the song Do You Realize by the Flaming Lips? And so this is a shout out to our inpatient palliative team at Dell Medical School.

Eric Widera 2:06

That's awesome. Uh maybe at the end of the podcast we can all all have our final vinyl. Alex

Unknown 2:29

That you have the most beautiful face you realize.

Unknown 2:44

We're floating in space, do you realize? Happiness. Makes you cry do you realize? Let everyone You know someday we'll die. And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know you realize that life goes fast. It's hard to make the good things last. You realize the sun doesn't go down. It's just an illusion caused by the world. Spinning round.

Theresa Allison 3:43

D Oh, that was lovely.

Tyler Jorgensen 3:49

Thank you, Alex. That was awesome.

Eric Widera 3:53

That was fantastic. So we got a lot to talk about on this podcast. Man, I could spend like an hour just on that song itself. That is But Jenny, I'm gonna start off with you. You emailed me about doing a podcast on music and medicine. I'm wondering why did you think it was a good idea to do this podcast?

Jenny Chen 4:15

Good question. So I actually was doing a grand rounds as my final presentation here at Yale for my fellowship on the role of music in hostice and palliative medicine. And I was looking for articles and I wasn't seeing as many as I expected. And then naturally I went to my podcast, which is the Jerry Pop podcast, and I looked up Like is there music in medicine There was

Eric Widera 4:42

even less on the Jerry Powell Buck.

Jenny Chen 4:46

Like the last article was like ten years ago. So I thought, why don't I email them? I just met you guys at the AHPM conference and I was like, maybe I can say, Hey, I met you guys. Remember me? Do you wanna do something about music?

Eric Widera 5:00

And I gotta ask, because in that email you said you were introduced to Palliative Care through music. How how was that the case?

Jenny Chen 5:07

Yeah, so when I was a college student at UC Berkeley, um, I was pre-med, I was figuring out ways to combine my interests in music and medicine. So I actually volunteered at UCSF's Music is Good Medicine program, which was 10, 15 years ago. And I followed one of the amazing chaplains, Peggy. I don't know if she's still there, but shout out to Peggy. And I performed for many palliative patients.

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Chapters

8 chapters

1 What is the overall theme of the episode and who are the three guests? 0:00–6:32 2 How did Jenny Chen first become interested in using music for palliative‑care patients? 6:32–11:52 3 What stories does Tyler Jorgensen share about bringing vinyl and bedside music to patients? 11:52–17:04 4 Why do clinicians ask patients “What kind of music would you like?” and how is the “ENDearing” approach structured? 17:04–22:35 5 How does the record‑player cart program work and what safety considerations are involved? 22:35–29:09 6 What does the research say about music’s impact on pain, anxiety and well‑being in palliative care? 29:09–35:13 7 How does music benefit people with dementia and their caregivers, according to Teresa Allison’s studies? 35:13–40:56 8 What are the guests’ future plans for music‑in‑medicine projects and their personal “song of the day”? 40:56–42:01

Speakers

2 identified

Eric Widera 4 min Alex Smith 3 min

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Topics in this episode

Spotify 1 Alex Smith 1 UCSF 1 Yale 1 UC Berkeley 1 Eric Widera 1 iPod 1 Massachusetts General Hospital 1 McGill University 1 record player 1 University of Texas Austin 1 Music and Memory 1

Source

Recorded22 May 2025

Publisherrss.libsyn.com ↗

Transcriptspeaker-named · 100+ languages

Handlerec:20524507

Show notes

As you know, dear listeners, I love music. We start each podcast with a song in part to shift the frame, taking people out of their academic selves and into a more informal conversation. Well, today's guests love music at least as much if not more than me, and they each make a strong case for music as medicine. Jenny Chen is a palliative care fellow at Yale who regularly sings for her seriously ill patients. Look for Jenny to potentially appear on the show America's Got Talent (no lie). Tyler Jorgensen not only plays music for his patients, starting out with just pulling up a tune on his iPhone, he and others at UT Austin and Dell med now wheel a record player into patients rooms and play vinyl, taking patients back to the sounds and routines - think taking the record out of the sleeve, placing the needle in the groove - of younger days. You can here Tyler and I having a great time singing together and sharing stories around his podcast My Medical Mixtape. And Theresa Allison is a geriatrician and ethnomusicologist who studies the role of music for people with dementia. The ability to appreciate, recognize, and engage with music is preserved even until late stages of dementia, and Theresa is examining how music can be useful from the time of diagnosis, not only for the person with dementia, but their caregivers. Many links today, including: -Alive Inside Movie and Music and Memory movement -Music and Creativity in Healthcare Settings - book by Hilary Moss -Tyler Jorgensen's article on Bringing Music to patients at the Bedside in JGIM -Tyler's reflection/story comparing palliative medicine to jazz - something I arrived at independently and tell all new trainees! This is not highly scripted orchestral music, people, it's Jazz. -Systematic review of music (and prognosis) in palliative care -Review of music and dementia interventions (Theresa Allison author) -Theresa Allison's paper on Music Engagement in Dementia Caregiver Relationships in Gerontologist -Jenny Chen's YouTube channel.

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