Immersive Virtual Reality Exposure for Reducing Preoperative Anxiety in Children

Summary

Perioperative anxiety management for children undergoing surgery poses a major challenge to anaesthesiologists as high anxiety, reported in numerous studies, leads to detrimental effects physiologically, mentally and on pain scores. Traditional methods, including administration of anxiolytics pre-op has its own limitations e.g. side effects of drugs. Non-pharmacological approaches e.g. OT orientation or information have a heavy reliance on manpower. A sustainable and reliable non-pharmacological method that requires minimal manpower support is needed for the effective management of paediatric perioperative anxiety.

Virtual reality utilises a head-mounted display with visual, auditory and tactile stimuli to simulate a fully immersive 3-dimensional environment. Its application in the paediatric perioperative setting can be either as a distraction during painful procedures or during induction of anaesthesia or as an exposure tool in preoperative education and has demonstrated success in literature.

In a joint project involving the Department of Computing of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Department of Computer Science Center for Innovative Applications of Internet and Multimedia Technologies of the City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Children's Hospital (HKCH), an immersive VR operating theatre tour will be designed as part of preoperative education for children. A simulation of the perioperative journey in HKCH operating theatre will be created to help children form realistic expectations of their perioperative journey to cope with their worries about the anticipated procedures.

Conditions

• Anxiety State
• Satisfaction
• Compliance

Interventions

DEVICE

Immersive virtual reality operating theatre tour

In a joint project involving the Department of Computing of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Department of Computer science Center for Innovative Applications of Internet and Multimedia Technologies of the City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Children's Hospital (HKCH), an immersive VR operating theatre tour will be designed as part of preoperative education for participants. A simulation of the perioperative journey in HKCH operating theatre will be created to help participants form realistic expectations of their perioperative journey, and virtual exposure of different medical equipment helps participants cope with their worries for the anticipated procedures. Parents/legal guardians will be able to monitor the VR experience on tablets via the monitoring software, which displays what the participants see in VR.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  collaborator OTHER

• City University of Hong Kong

  collaborator OTHER

• Hong Kong Children's Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Vansie Kwok, MBBS, FHKCA · Department of Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Hong Kong Children's Hospital

• Richard C Li, MSc, PhD · Department of Computing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

5 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-11-17

Primary Completion

2024-09-11

Completion

2024-10-15

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations