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Effects of an Immersive Virtual Reality Intervention on Pain and Anxiety Among Pediatric Patients Undergoing
1The Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Insights
Immersive virtual reality (IVR) significantly reduced pain and anxiety in pediatric patients undergoing venipuncture. This distraction and information intervention also improved healthcare professional satisfaction and shortened procedure times.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Medicine
- Medical Technology
- Pain Management
Background:
- Venipuncture is a common yet painful procedure for children.
- Immersive virtual reality (IVR) shows promise in reducing procedural pain and anxiety.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of IVR in mitigating pain, anxiety, and stress during pediatric venipuncture.
Main Methods:
- A randomized clinical trial involving 149 pediatric patients (aged 4-12) undergoing venipuncture.
- Participants were assigned to either an IVR intervention group or a standard care control group.
- Outcomes including pain, anxiety, heart rate, cortisol levels, procedure length, and professional satisfaction were assessed.
Main Results:
- The IVR group reported significantly lower pain and anxiety immediately post-procedure compared to the control group.
- Healthcare professionals reported higher satisfaction with the procedure in the IVR group.
- The duration of the venipuncture procedure was significantly shorter in the IVR group.
Conclusions:
- Integrating procedural information and distraction via IVR effectively reduces pain and anxiety in pediatric patients during venipuncture.
- IVR demonstrates potential as a valuable tool for managing pediatric procedural pain and anxiety, with implications for other medical interventions.
Importance:
Venipuncture is one of the most painful and distressing procedures experienced by pediatric patients. Emerging evidence suggests that providing procedural information and distraction using immersive virtual reality (IVR) may reduce pain and anxiety among children undergoing needle-related procedures.
Objectives:
To examine the effects of IVR on reducing the pain, anxiety, and stress experienced by pediatric patients undergoing venipuncture.
Design, Setting, And Participants:
This 2-group randomized clinical trial recruited pediatric patients aged 4 to 12 years undergoing venipuncture from a public hospital in Hong Kong between January 2019 and January 2020. Data were analyzed from March to May 2022.
Interventions:
Participants were randomly allocated to an intervention (an age-appropriate IVR intervention offering distraction and procedural information) or a control (standard care only) group.
Main Outcomes And Measures:
The primary outcome was child-reported pain. Secondary outcomes included child-reported anxiety, heart rate, salivary cortisol, length of procedure, and satisfaction of health care professionals with the procedure (rated on a 40 point scale, with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction). Outcomes were assessed 10 minutes before, during, immediately after, and 30 minutes after the procedure.
Results:
A total of 149 pediatric patients were recruited, with 86 female patients (57.7%) and 66 patients (44.3%) diagnosed with fever. Compared with the 74 participants in the control group (mean [SD] age, 7.21 [2.49] years), the 75 participants in the IVR group (mean [SD] age, 7.21 [2.43] years) reported significantly less pain (β = -0.78; 95% CI, -1.21 to -0.35; P < .001) and anxiety (β = -0.41; 95% CI, -0.76 to -0.05; P = .03) immediately after the intervention. Health care professional satisfaction in the IVR group (mean [SD] score, 34.5 [4.5]) was significantly higher than that in the control group (mean [SD] score, 32.9 [4.0]; P = .03). Moreover, the length of venipuncture procedure in the IVR group (mean [SD] duration, 4.43 [3.47] minutes) was significantly shorter than that in the control group (mean [SD] duration, 6.56 [7.39] minutes; P = .03).
Conclusions And Relevance:
In this randomized clinical trial, integrating procedural information and distraction in an IVR intervention for pediatric patients undergoing venipuncture significantly improved pain and anxiety in the IVR group compared with the control group. The results shed light on the global trends of research on IVR and its clinical development as an intervention for other painful and stressful medical procedures.
Trial Registration:
Chinese Clinical Trial Registry identifier: ChiCTR1800018817.
