After four years spent observing the amazing effects of live music on countless patients during the hospital interventions organised by Música en Vena, the association’s director at the time, Juan Alberto García de Cubas—now president of Cultura en Vena—initiated a research project to find scientific evidence of those effects. And so, in 2016, the MIR Project was born: in Spanish, the programme is called Músicos Internos Residentes, a play on the better-known meaning of the MIR acronym—Médicos Internos Residentes, doctors who are completing their specialty training—meant to highlight the goal of making professional musicians part of the regular hospital staff.
“We had organised hundreds of concerts, worked with thousands of musicians, and benefited many more patients who had been transformed by the power of music. That’s why we decided, via the Música en Vena association, to undertake seven unprecedented clinical studies with the fundamental cooperation of Hospital 12 de Octubre, after getting approval from the hospital’s Ethics Committee for Clinical Research,” says Juan Alberto García de Cubas, who continues to spearhead the MIR Project from his new position at Fundación Cultura en Vena.
Improve clinical protocols through the experience of live music offered by a first-class professional musician.
Participate in the search for scientific evidence of how music benefits people’s health.
Create new circuits that offer innovative career opportunities for young unemployed musicians.
The MIR Project has five main aims:
– To demonstrate the positive effects of music on hospitalised patients
– To prove that live music is an effective complementary therapy within the protocols for humanising healthcare settings
– To create job opportunities for young unemployed musicians
– To integrate music in the scientific method as a means of improving the experience of illness and quality of care perceived by patients, family members and healthcare workers
– To create new outlets for music, art and culture
In 2016, seven clinical research studies were begun in the Intensive Care, Neonatalogy, Rehabilitation, Haematology, Cardiology, Occupational Medicine and Neurology departments at Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid, after being approved by the hospital’s Ethics Committee for Clinical Research. To this end, 46 Musicians In Residence were hired for a three-year period.
