[Vital signs and facial expression of patients in coma]

Abstract

The objective was to check music and voice message influence on the vital signals and facial expressions of patients in physiological or induced comas. A randomized controlled clinical trial was done. The sample was consisted of 30 patients from Intensive Care Unit, being divided in 2 groups: Group Control (without auditory stimuli) and Experimental Group (with auditory stimuli). The patients were submitted to 3 sessions for consecutive days. Significant statistical alterations of the vital signs were noted (oxygen saturation - session 1; oxygen saturation - session 3; respiratory frequency - session 3) during the message playback and with facial expression, session 1, during both music and message. Apparently, the voice message is a stronger stimulus than the music in relation to the capacity of producing suggestive physiological auditory responses.