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To Test Effectiveness of Virtual Reality on Post Operative Patients 'VR-RAP@

NCT07274098 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 10

Last updated 2025-12-10

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Virtual reality (VR) headsets (like those used in gaming) allow users to feel immersed in an artificial 3 dimensional environment. The user is able to look around within the environment and interact with it.

Virtual reality has been used extensively in video games and also in training eg in flight simulators used to train pilots.

There is now a growing use of VR in a clinical setting as virtual reality environments have been designed to help users relax and reduce anxiety or distract and reduce pain. Trials have shown that these can work in many situations including helping relax staff who are working in highly stressful situations, or to distract and help reduce pain in patients following injuries or during minor operations. The relaxation environments use pictures and sounds to create calm environments and can guide users in breathing exercises which help calm and relax. This study is to investigate whether it will be possible to do a study using a VR headset with a relaxation experience, in the days following abdominal surgery that leads to a reduction in anxiety and pain.

Two groups of patients will be studied, one group will use the head set twice a day for up to 5 days and the other will not. They will record their pain and anxiety on a scale of 1 to 10 every day. The amount of pain reducing medicines that they need will also be recorded. The patients will be randomly divided into the 2 groups, they will not get to choose.

The researchers will see whether patients are happy to use the headsets following surgery and at the end of the study, the pain and anxiety scores for the group which used the VR headset will be compared with the scores for the group that didn't.

Conditions

  • Colo-rectal Surgery

Interventions

DEVICE

Virtual reality

If randomised to VR then the patient will wear the unit twice a day, morning and afternoon, if possible, before the ward drug round, for a maximum of 5 days whilst they are in hospital. The number of days will depend on the length of time the participant is in hospital post surgery.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

    lead OTHER_GOV

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-04-16
Primary Completion
2025-06-09
Completion
2025-08-08

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07274098 on ClinicalTrials.gov