Improving the Intensive Care Patient Experience With Virtual Reality—A Feasibility Study

OBJECTIVES: Patients’ stays in the ICU are often characterized by prolonged immobility, sedation, disrupted sleep, and extended periods of pain, which put ICU patients at greater risk for ICU-acquired weakness and delirium-related mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of using meditative virtual reality to improve the hospital experience of ICU patients. DESIGN: Final report of prospective observational trial. SETTING: Surgical and trauma ICUs of the University of Florida Health, an academic hospital. PATIENTS: Fifty-nine nonintubated adult ICU patients without delirium at recruitment. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were exposed to sessions of commercially available meditative virtual reality applications focused on calmness and relaxation, performed once daily for up to 7 days. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Outcome measures included pain level, pain medication administration, anxiety, depression, sleep quality, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, delirium status, and patient ratings of the virtual reality system. Comparisons were made using paired t tests and mixed models. The virtual reality meditative intervention improved patients’ ICU experience with reduced levels of anxiety and depression; however, there was no evidence that virtual reality had significant effects on physiologic measures, pain, or sleep. CONCLUSIONS: The use of meditative virtual reality technology in the ICU was easily implemented and well-received by patients.