Sing me to sleep: Meet Bordeaux's crooning surgeon

In Bordeaux, a surgeon soothes the patients she operates on by singing. "It's not just singing, it's not a concert. For me, it's therapeutic," explains obstetric gynecologist Aïcha N'doye. 

Thanks to the music, patients "fall asleep more calmly" before the operation, she adds. "It's our job to do some good and to do it by any means necessary."

The 34-year-old specializes in breast cancer but is also a singer. In December, she released an album of covers and compositions, 'Les voix du coeur', with her group 'Les caregiveres', made up of an emergency doctor and a podiatrist and pedicurist. 

"The first time I sang, I was still an intern, I was still a student and I really sang in a moment of desperation when we couldn't get a patient to go to sleep because she was totally agitated and wouldn't let herself be perfused," says Ndoye, whose director at the Bordeaux Nord Polyclinic published a video of her singing Alicia Keys' 'If I Ain't Got You' perfectly on LinkedIn, eye-to-eye with the patient she was going to operate on.

"As I was washing my hands, I thought maybe I'd try something. The last option we had was for me to sing. I sang to the patient, which captured her attention, so I was able to infuse her at the same time and put her to sleep. Since then, I've made it an integral part of my work."

For N'doye, it is all about the care of her patients, though, not a singing career. "We know that when you fall asleep soothed, you wake up soothed, so waking up is much easier and much smoother," she adds.

"Then, when you fall asleep stressed, you consume more anasthetics. And as a result, when they sing, they fall asleep more calmly and consume fewer drugs. So it's very beneficial for them and it's beneficial for me too, because it allows me to refocus on my work and remember why I'm there in the first place.

"When I'm singing in front of a patient, looking her in the eye, I say to myself, 'Careful, you can't make a mistake'. So it always reminds me of what I'm working for."

N'doye believes it is merely part of her role to provide the best relaxation she can to those in her care, whichever way that comes. "It's normal, it's our job, in fact, to do good and to do it by any means necessary," she explains.

"For me, it's through music, but there are others who do it by making people laugh, or by hypnosis. So in fact, I didn't understand why. I think we get so caught up in our work that sometimes we forget the human side.

"It's true that when I have patients who come to see me for this, I say to myself that it's a real shame  this isn't the case in other places and that I'd really like this video, that what I'm doing could inspire other colleagues of mine, and that people wouldn't need to come to see me for this anymore, that it could be done everywhere."

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Her talents have not gone unnoticed among her colleagues, who encourage her to showcase her voice. She says it even helps ease tensions in a pressured environment. N'doye says: "There's a purpose behind it. It's not just singing, it's not a concert. For me, it's therapeutic, and they understand that and they're now all very, very happy to see me sing, to call me to sing for the patients, the anesthetists are delighted.

"What's more, the surgeons and anasthetists sometimes don't get on very well but now we get on very well when we work together, so frankly it's great, it's a very, very good atmosphere."

One of N'doye's colleagues admits it is an emotional experience just listening to her. "It's relaxing but it's not only relaxing for the patients, it's also relaxing for the general atmosphere in the operating theatre," adds Lucie Denaud, operating theatre nurse. "It's not just the music you can hear, it's really the voice of a surgeon with her patients and it's very powerful in human terms. It even moves us to tears at times."

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