Virtual Reality to Decrease Child Anxiety With Allergy Testing

Background: Allergy testing is typically performed as a skin prick test. This test can cause pain and anxiety in children. Objective: The goal of this project was to improve the patient experience during allergy testing. Methods: This quality improvement project employed a pretest-posttest design to assess pediatric anxiety levels before and after exposure to virtual reality (VR). Results: There was a significant decrease in anxiety scores pre- to post-VR implementation. Anxiety scores of patients who wore VR were significantly less than when VR was not used (M = 2.29 vs. 5.43). Anxiety scores demonstrated a greater decrease with VR in the 4-9 years old age group (M = 5 vs. 1.33) compared with the 2-3 years old age group (M = 5.75 vs. 3). Patients wore the VR headset from 1 to 10 minutes, with a mean time of 4.07 minutes. The 4-9 years old age group stayed engaged longer in the VR headset (7 minutes) versus the 2-3 years old age group (1.88 minutes). Satisfaction scores were high among caregivers and patients. Staff reported feeling between neutral and highly satisfied. Conclusions: This project suggested the use of VR during allergy testing reduced anxiety. Implications for Nursing: VR may be a useful nonpharmacological intervention for nurses to use during allergy testing to improve the patient and family experience.