The Unreal Application of Virtual Reality: Lowering Preoperative Anxiety
A virtual introduction to surgery
What if I told you that you were going to have surgery tomorrow? How would you feel?
At this moment, you would probably have a whole host of emotions flying through your head, one of the most overpowering feelings most likely being anxiety.
The Problem
Up to 80% of surgical patients experience preoperative anxiety.
Anxiety comes from the fear of the unknown — patients do not know what to expect when they enter the hospital.
Pre-operative anxiety levels matter because they are linked to many negative outcomes, including prolonged hospital stays, increased risk of infections, and increases in mortality in cardiac patients. Patients are typically given sedatives and other medications the morning of their procedures to reduce anxiety, but this does not reduce the stress-related cortisol levels that have built up for weeks.
Application of VR
Virtual reality consists of putting a person in a computer-generated environment or experience. Using 360-degree cameras, a virtual tour has been developed, walking patients through all the steps they will experience from the time spent in the pre-surgical waiting area to the time they are put to sleep.
How it works
The patients wear the VR headset and this allows them to experience the journey of coming into surgery providing a form of exposure therapy. They will be able to experience being wheeled through the hospital on a gurney, meeting their nurse and anesthesiologist, being in the OR and getting an IV and monitors put on. The video simulates the oxygen mask coming down on the patient’s face and being put to sleep.
VR Video
Click here to see what someone would experience on their VR headset before surgery (shot on 3-D camera, not modified for 2-D video): Video made by Sick Kids and Sunnybrook
In a study by The University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine’s Fahad Alam and Clyde Matava, 100 child participants view the video on the VR headset, and patients’ anxiety levels, blood pressure, heart rate and self-assessment through visual analog scale (VAS) are recorded pre and post intervention.
The photo above shows 9-year-old Tess Baird, one of the patients in the study who was getting surgery on her hand. Tess came to Sick Kids feeling nervous, not sure what the surgery would entail. But only 30 minutes later, after putting the VR headset on and seeing the procedures that she would soon experience, she was much calmer.
Tess says, “Let’s say I had 10 nerves. Nine of them were gone.”
What else did the study show?
- Comparing pre and post-intervention, anxiety levels (VAS) decreased by approximately 31% for males and 15% for females on average.
- For 92% of subjects, VR was the preferred method of preoperative exposure therapy compared to the slideshow previously used.
- 94% of parents of the subjects preferred VR over the standard slideshow.
Other Applications of VR in the Health Sector
Virtual reality can help provide a form of exposure therapy to patients with fears of certain places or things. Burn patients are being exposed to virtual reality apps that immerse them into a cold world of snow and ice, helping reduce their need for pain medications. Alzheimer’s patients can be immersed into virtual reality environments during MRI testing, allowing researchers to see what areas of the brain are activated to assist in diagnosis. VR is also playing an increasingly popular role in medical education, allowing future health-care workers to hone their skills in a whole new way.
Conclusion
The field of VR is quickly growing and the applications have expanded further than just gaming. VR will prove to be a powerful tool for increasing patient safety and experience. Although the research is still very recent, we are already seeing the successes.
The next time you or one of your loved ones is scheduled for surgery, a virtual introduction may go a long way for making it a less stressful experience.
TL;DR
- Up to 80% of surgical patients experience preoperative anxiety
- High preoperative anxiety levels are a problem because they are linked to many negative outcomes, including prolonged hospital stays, increased risk of infections etc.
- VR can be used to lower anxiety by providing a form of exposure therapy and helping the patients overcome the fear of the unknown
- A virtual tour can be created to allow patients to experience the journey of coming into surgery
- In a study conducted by University of Toronto comparing pre and post-intervention, anxiety levels (VAS) decreased by approximately 31% for males and 15% for females on average
