Virtual Reality to comfort and reduce anxiety during medical procedures for young people and children
This week, we share how our clinicians have been trialling the use of virtual reality (VR)’ with young people and children to reduce anxiety during minor medical procedures. Brave year-old Jack in the tiger VR headset kindly agreed to test the experience to see if this would make those injections a little bit less scary whilst visiting us at our Children’s Hospital. 
With reports from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) suggesting that virtual reality has the potential to distract children, from ‘self-reported pain and anxiety during medical procedures’ - we spoke with Dr Ben O’Sullivan, a Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist at our Children’s Hospital on how he has followed this idea and incorporated virtual reality into minor medical procedures, to reduce anxiety and discomfort for young people and children. Although the technique is in its earliest phase, Dr O’Sullivan shares that children aged eight years old and above have been the most receptive to the use of virtual reality, it’s currently being used with the consent of parents, during minor painful procedures and anaesthetic inductions.
Fifteen-year-old, Jack, recently visited our hospital for a minor procedure and was offered the use of the new technology. He said: “I really enjoyed using the VR headset, we had a bet on how many balloons I could shoot on the VR headset before the end of the injection.” Jack’s dad, Steve, added: “It was really reassuring to see Jack relaxed and enjoying the virtual reality, I think it should be used more often because it was a great way to make the procedure less daunting, I can see why it’s becoming more popular. It was a really fun distraction compared to the usual hospital visit.”
Using virtual reality to reduce the amount of general anaesthesia that is administered could minimise the risk of side effects of the medication. General anaesthesia can cause children to feel disoriented, confused and dazed. Other common physical side effects that can affect those who undergo anaesthesia include; vomiting, chills and shakiness. Side effects can be prevented by anti-nausea medications, however, virtual reality could help to reduce this reliance on pain-relief medication. The VR simulation also helps children to stay still during challenging medical procedures that require less movement. Often, leukaemia patients who undergo lumbar puncture require greater distraction to reduce movement - the technique can ease the process, particularly for younger children.
Dr Ben O’Sullivan, a consultant at our Children’s Hospital for two years said: “Being a gamer myself, I understand that virtual reality allows you to be cognitively wired into something else that creates an immersive distraction. We’ve found that the roller coaster games have been the most popular for our kids and the relaxing hypnotic backgrounds have worked really well for those with learning disabilities, to provide a sense of comfort in an unfamiliar environment. Being at hospital is already quite a scary time for children - so it’s really important for us to ensure that young people and children are respected, and a level of comfort is maintained throughout their time at our Children’s Hospital.”
Children will also not have to ‘fast’ before the procedure if they are able to use VR over anaesthesia; usually those administered with anaesthesia would not be allowed to consume food and drinks until their procedure because their body’s reflexes are temporarily stopped, which means there is a higher risk of vomiting. Due to the lessened side effects, children can return home at a quicker rate.
This type of distraction has helped children with medium-range anxiety as this is not fully effective for children and young people with high levels of anxiety, however for the more minor medical procedures, this is appearing to be an effective way to reduce anxiety and pain for children during their time in hospital. It provides a sensory and distractive experience that takes children away from their fears in theatre.
We’d like to thank Dr O’Sullivan for speaking with us about medical ‘VR’ and how this can support the wellbeing of young people at our Children’s Hospital.