Decreasing REcurrent Pain and Anxiety in Medical Procedures With a Pediatric Population: a Pilot Study

Summary

Children with injuries, including burns, experience severe pain intensity during medical procedures despite the increasing doses of analgesics. Current guidelines on pediatric procedural pain management recommend the combination of non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions to enhance pain management and decrease the numerous side effects of analgesics. Virtual reality (VR) has gained growing consideration as a non-pharmacological method as it engages multiple senses and allows interactions with a virtual world. Oculus Rift ® (OR) is a new technology in VR that provides more immersiveness, at a relatively low cost, and could probably improve the management of pain and anxiety in wound care.

Overall hypothesis: Distraction by VR via the OR, in combination with the standard pharmacological treatment, is a feasible, acceptable and satisfactory method for the management of pain and anxiety during wound-related treatments in children with injuries.

Note that this pilot study will precede a larger trial aimed at assessing the effect of virtual reality distraction via the Oculus Rift ® (DREAM-T: NCT02947243)

Conditions

• Pain
• Anxiety
• Burns
• Child
• Injuries

Interventions

DEVICE

VR distraction via Oculus Rift

In addition to standard pharmacological treatment, Virtual reality distraction through the use of Oculus Rift® will be used as the experimental intervention. The Oculus Rift (Consumer version) is made of two Oled panels with a resolution of 1200p running at 90Hz. It has very effective 360 degree positional tracking and integrated 3D audio. These combine to produce a high level of immersion, with high photorealism while maintaining the low latency necessary to induce presence and prevent cybersickness. The child, depending on the site of the injury, will have the opportunity to interact with the game. Video games, approved by healthcare professionals with extensive experience in pediatrics, were adapted for children and tailored to minimize cyber sickness.

OTHER

Standard pharmacological treatment

according to the unit's protocol and adjusted to each participant's age, weight and condition by the anesthetist and pain clinic nurse.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Quebec Nursing Intervention Research Network

  collaborator OTHER

• St. Justine's Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sylvie Le May, RN, PhD · St. Justine's Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-07-10

Primary Completion

2018-08-01

Completion

2018-08-01

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations