Patients' willingness and needs for ICU virtual reality visits before elective surgery: a qualitative study

To investigate patients' willingness and needs for ICU virtual reality visits prior to elective surgery, so as to provide a reference for developing VR-based preoperative ICU visits tools that meet actual clinical user requirements.

A descriptive qualitative study was conducted. A total of 18 patients undergoing elective surgery in surgical departments collaborating with the intensive care unit of a tertiary Grade A hospital in Jinan, Shandong Province, between March 2025 and August 2025 were selected for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Five themes were extracted: current cognitive status of patients regarding the ICU and core information gaps; patients' cognition and expectations of preoperative visits; patients' acceptance and cognition of applying VR technology to ICU preoperative visits; core needs for VR-based preoperative ICU visits; and Potential Barriers and Optimization Suggestions for the Implementation of VR-based preoperative ICU visits.

This qualitative study explored patients' willingness and needs for VR-based preoperative ICU visits. Patients expressed positive attitudes toward the potential application of VR technology in ICU preoperative visits, reflecting anticipated rather than actual use of this intervention. Based on the results of this study, future research can collaborate with technology development teams to construct a VR-based preoperative ICU visits system, conduct longitudinal in-depth studies from the aspects of clinical verification, technical iteration, and long-term promotion, so as to facilitate the translation of this technology from demand-oriented design to clinical application.