Journal Club: Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Environment for Post-Operative Pain Management - Video
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Overview
Virtual Reality session helped in significant reduction of pain perception, reveals a recent study published in the International Journal of Recent Surgical Medical Sciences published by Scientific Scholar.
The imperative need of post-operative period is effective pain management. Virtual reality (VR) causes psychological distraction from pain stimuli, and thus may cause pain alleviation. This study was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of VR distraction on post-operative pain and experience of VR sessions among the patients.
A hospital-based interventional study was conducted for a period of two months with the objectives to estimate changes in post-operative pain intensity after VR session as well as to analyze experience related to VR interventions. It comprised patients of either gender undergoing surgery and with 1–3 days of hospitalization, who were randomized into two groups (age and gender matched). The control group was kept on standard post-operative pain management. The interventional group was subjected to VR exposure in addition to standard care therapy. The Numerical Rating Scale (N RS) scores were obtained twice post-operatively in subsequent days.
The results showed that in both the groups of 25 participants each , majority were given bupivacaine for anesthesia and combination of paracetamol and diclofenac for post-operative analgesia. The NRS scores of both groups obtained post-operatively on standard therapy without VR intervention did not show any significant difference. However, the post-VR-sessions NRS scores showed significant reduction as compared to pre-session scores among the participants of the interventional group. The responses obtained revealed acceptance for the features of realism, engagement, and presence during VR intervention. Majority confirmed their willingness to undergo VR sessions in future.
Hence, the authors concluded that VR session helped in significant reduction of pain perception as VR simulation diverted considerable attention away from the pain. Majority expressed positive inclination for utilization of VR in comprehensive patient care.
Speakers
Dr. Nandita Mohan
BDS, MDS( Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry)
Dr. Nandita Mohan is a practicing pediatric dentist with more than 5 years of clinical work experience. Along with this, she is equally interested in keeping herself up to date about the latest developments in the field of medicine and dentistry which is the driving force for her to be in association with Medical Dialogues. She also has her name attached with many publications; both national and international. She has pursued her BDS from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore and later went to enter her dream specialty (MDS) in the Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry from Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences. Through all the years of experience, her core interest in learning something new has never stopped. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751