Virtual Reality for Pediatric Needle Procedural Pain: Two Randomized Clinical Trials

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Pain Management
• Medical Technology Integration
• Clinical Trials & Health Services Research

Background:

• Needle-associated pain is a common and distressing experience for children in healthcare settings.
• Standard of care (SOC) for procedural pain management in pediatric patients often relies on traditional methods.
• Virtual reality (VR) presents a novel, non-pharmacological approach for pain distraction during medical interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy and safety of VR as a distraction technique for reducing needle pain in children.
• To compare VR intervention against SOC in two distinct pediatric clinical environments: emergency departments (ED) and outpatient pathology.
• To assess VR's impact on pain perception during common venous access procedures.

Main Methods:

• Two randomized controlled trials were conducted involving children aged 4-11 years undergoing venipuncture or cannulation.
• Participants were allocated to either VR distraction or SOC at two tertiary Australian hospitals.
• Pain levels were measured using the child-rated Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) as the primary endpoint.

Main Results:

• In the ED, VR significantly reduced pain compared to SOC (difference: -1.78, P=.018).
• In outpatient pathology, VR also significantly lessened pain increase from baseline versus SOC (difference: -1.39, P=.034).
• Minor adverse events were infrequent and equally distributed between VR and SOC groups, with no need for pharmacotherapy.

Conclusions:

• Virtual reality is an effective and safe method for decreasing procedural needle pain in children aged 4-11 years.
• VR distraction can be successfully implemented in both emergency and outpatient settings for pediatric pain management.
• The findings support the integration of VR technology as an adjunct to SOC for improving pediatric patient comfort during needle-based procedures.