Each patient spent three minutes of wound care with no distraction and three minutes of wound care in VR during a single wound care session. Compared with standard analgesic treatment alone, the addition of VR distraction resulted in a 20 percent reduction in subjective pain ratings for worst pain intensity, a 26 percent reduction in unpleasantness, and a 37 percent reduction in time spent thinking about pain.Īnother study, published in 2008, looked at 11 hospitalized inpatients ages 9 to 40 years who had their burn wounds debrided and dressed while partially submerged in the hydrotank. The study included 88 subjects, 75 percent who were children ages six to 18 years. One study, published in 2007, assessed the efficacy and side effects of immersive VR distraction analgesia, as well as patient factors associated with VR analgesic efficacy in burn patients who require passive range-of-motion (ROM) physical therapy. Since then, they have published numerous studies confirming the efficacy of SnowWorld in reducing pain for burn victims undergoing wound care and other procedures. This system has also been used for study purposes, as it can provide VR to patients undergoing MRI scans of their brains and demonstrate how the experience is influencing pain response. Hoffman then collaborated with Jeff Magula to build a VR system that could be used during the water treatment that burn victims often undergo to soften scar tissue, and remove dead skin.īecause electronics cannot be safely used in water, this system features a custom fiberoptic VR helmet that carries light to the patients’ eyes via a light pipe. The current version of the VR experience was built by Ari Hollander and Howard Rose of Firsthand Technology. Together the two came up with the concept of SnowWorld. Through a mutual friend, Hoffman connected with David Patterson, Ph.D, who studies psychological techniques for reducing severe acute burn pain of patients at Harborview Burn Center in Seattle. That’s when we realized there was a market and that this was an amazing distraction for pain.” “Kids could play video games while at the dentist and not complain as much. “Dentists were buying it to distract their patients during painful procedures,” said Furness, in an interview with R&D Magazine. The device, which allowed users to watch movies or play video games via an eyewear headset, was supposed to be geared toward the general consumer, but it was dentists who showed the most interest instead. Furness invented the first personal eyewear display, and was marketing the device through his company Virtual Vision. Furness, Ph.D., the Founding Director of the Human Interface Technology Lab. His interest spiked while he was working with Thomas A. Hoffman has been investigating the potential for VR for pain reduction since the early 1990s. We also have to take into consideration that these are not gamers with full cognitive abilities these are burn patients that are heavily medicated and are also in pain, so it has to be a simple game for them to be able to even do it.” “That is not going to help their pain level, and it may be difficult psychologically. “We wanted the patients to not think about the accident that caused the fire during their wound care-some even have PTSD regarding this,” said Hoffman, in an interview with R&D Magazine. SnowWorld was designed around the concept of snow because cold and ice is the antithesis to burning fire, said Hunter Hoffman, Ph.D, one of the original creators of SnowWorld. To play the game, users point their head slightly in the direction they want to throw a snowball and then press a button to launch it. The VR experience, known as SnowWorld, features a snowy scene where users score points by throwing snowballs at snowmen, penguins, woolly mammoth and flying fish. The technology is currently being utilized at Harborview Burn Center, Shriners Children’s Burn Center, as well as several other burn centers and burn-focused research laboratories, and has been shown in numerous research studies to reduce pain levels significantly. To combat this problem, researchers at University of Washington Human Interface Technology Laboratory have developed an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience designed specifically for burn victims. Narcotic drugs are typically given to burn victims to help get them through this process, but often this is not enough to mask the intense pain. This process, known as wound care, is often described as just as painful as experiencing the burn itself. Nurses must regularly remove staples and stitches, clear away dead skin, clean the wounds, and determine if the healing process is moving along properly. For burn victims, the healing process can be excruciatingly painful.
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