Virtual Reality

Extended Reality Offers New Ways to View Congenital Heart Disease
Extended Reality Offers New Ways to View Congenital Heart Disease 1024 577 Mary Bates, PhD

Researchers are evaluating the technology’s potential to improve clinical practice, trainee and family education, and patient outcomes. What if you could put on a headset and teleport inside a model of a patient’s beating heart? What if you could interact with that heart — touch it with your fingertips, zoom in or out or view…

What Features Make Virtual Reality Effective in Pain Management?
What Features Make Virtual Reality Effective in Pain Management? 934 401 Mary Bates, PhD

Game realism, fun and engagement all impact pain perception during burn dressing changes. Researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital show that three key features of a virtual reality intervention (game realism, fun and engagement) influence self-reported pain scores during burn dressing changes. The findings provide insight into the potential mechanisms through which virtual reality affects pain…

Using Virtual Reality Games to Reduce Dressing Change Pain in Pediatric Burn Patients
Using Virtual Reality Games to Reduce Dressing Change Pain in Pediatric Burn Patients 934 401 JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM

Smartphone-based virtual reality games can reduce dressing change pain for pediatric patients receiving outpatient burn treatment. According to the American Burn Association, burn injuries affect approximately 250,000 children in the United States each year. The pain associated with burn injuries extends beyond the injury itself; there is also significant pain from dressing changes, which can…

Immersive Virtual Reality-Based Training Improves Empathy Among Health Care Providers
Immersive Virtual Reality-Based Training Improves Empathy Among Health Care Providers 414 224 Lauren Dembeck

A novel VR-based training program helps providers develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes to understand how social determinants of health affect patients and how to mitigate their effects. Researchers recently reported their novel virtual reality (VR)-based empathy training program, Making Professionals Able THrough Immersion (MPATHI), improved knowledge, skills, and attitudes of health care providers for care…

Creative Reality: Using a New Platform Technology to Improve Patient Experience
Creative Reality: Using a New Platform Technology to Improve Patient Experience 1024 575 Abbie Miller

Amy Dunn, MD, had a problem. Some of her patients in the hematology clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital receive hundreds of needle sticks each year. “Needle phobia is very real for these patients and their families,” says Dr. Dunn, director of Pediatric Hematology at Nationwide Children’s. “In some cases, ports need to be implanted so that these…