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Shift change: soundtracks for the clinician workday

Hayley Stafford

Head of Brand•November 4, 2026•4 min read•
•
Nurse and cyclist in split screen

From complex consultations to collecting your thoughts on the commute home, great care requires a clear head. Here’s why Heidi is launching on Spotify.

Healthcare carries a continuous cognitive and emotional weight. Clinicians make hundreds of decisions every day, moving constantly between life-changing decisions and the rest of their lives with virtually no buffer in between.

We’re a technology company, and we build because we believe technology is the answer to unlocking capacity that’s currently lost to excessive admin. But technology doesn’t deliver care, humans do. The most intelligent software is only useful if the clinicians using it have the energy, focus and headspace to practice sustainably. You can’t double global healthcare capacity if the people at the center of the system are running on empty.

Protecting the human side of medicine means looking at the entire reality of a clinician’s day: the focus needed before stepping into practice, the stamina required to sustain long and chaotic shifts, and the mental space required to switch off once the workday ends.

What the data tells us about switching off

Closed eyes with clinician statistic overlay

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To understand how clinicians navigate the boundaries of their work, we recently surveyed 854 practitioners across primary care, mental health, allied health and acute settings globally.

While around 4 in 10 clinicians told us they struggle to fully switch off after a shift, the data revealed a clear, proactive pattern in how practitioners manage that transition: audio is already an essential tool in their routine.

  • 82% of clinicians use music or audio after a shift to wind down.
  • Alongside exercise and talking with colleagues, audio is one of the most common decompression methods across every clinical specialty.
  • For clinicians managing the heaviest workloads, that reliance climbs even higher, with 54% regularly turning to audio to decompress.
Clinician holding stethoscope beside 82% statistic

Among clinicians surveyed, the post-shift transition takes a median of 75 minutes (which is why our post-shift playlist runs for exactly that amount of time). In that window, music serves as a practical, accessible boundary – a reliable way to regulate the nervous system, change mental gears and mark the clear transition between being on duty and being off.

Hands packing lanyard into bag

Throughout my career as a clinician, music has been my go-to tool for shifting gears. Whether I was bracing for a long shift in the Emergency Department or trying to decompress afterward, it always helped me transition.

Dr. Ben Condon

Clinical Director

Introducing Shift change

To support those daily transitions, we’re launching Heidi on Spotify with our founding playlist series: Shift change.

Shift change is designed around three distinct operational moments in the clinical day, offering functional soundtracks to help clinicians get going, maintain momentum and bring their energy back to baseline.

1. Gearing up

For clinicians preparing to lock in.

A balance of calm confidence and steady energy. Built with lo-fi textures, consistent momentum and rhythmic grooves to help clear mental clutter and establish focus before the first patient interaction.

2. Pushing through

Motivation for the long night shift.

Curated to maintain alertness and morale through overnight hours and extended shifts. Upbeat and re-energising rhythms designed to keep focus sharp without spiking your pulse.

3. Clocking off

For the post-shift wind-down.

Slower tempos, soothing acoustics and ambient instrumentation. Mirrored to the 75-minute window clinicians need to disconnect, it’s designed for journey home and helping the nervous system downregulate after a high-demand day.

Listen to Shift change

You can stream the founding playlists directly below or follow Heidi on Spotify to save them to your library. Shift change was curated by MassiveMusic, the music and sound agency behind Heidi's sonic identity work.
Tune in on Spotify

Caring for the people who care for others

Building technology for healthcare requires understanding the human demands of the profession. Delivering exceptional, compassionate care is only possible when clinicians have the energy, focus and headspace to sustain it.

Shift change is a small, intentional tool for the moments that happen around the edges of the day. Whether you are prepping for a full schedule, powering through late hours, or heading home to rest, we hope these playlists help you find your rhythm.

Clinicians spend their entire day absorbing other people’s stress, uncertainty and urgency. Without a deliberate sensory cue to step out of 'clinical mode,' you end up carrying that weight straight home. Having dedicated audio is such an important boundary tool for your nervous system.

Dr. Jono O'Sullivan-Scott

Doctor and Clinical Specialist

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