Children's Hospital Los Angeles is using virtual reality to improve patient experience during procedures and reduce medication used. Here are five things to know:
1. The hospital is using VR to help patients minimize anxiety, pain, discomfort and even reduce anesthesia use, Joseph Miller, MD, the hospital's director of interventional radiology, said in a Dec. 16 news release.
2. The interventional radiology team has hired the system's first embedded hospital VR technologist, Phoenix Hunt, to guide and support patients through their procedures with procedure-specific VR Games. He studied VR game design and joined the hospital in August.
"VR can help dampen the brain's pain receptors," Mr. Hunt said. "Your body is so distracted with other stimuli that it kind of forgets to feel that anxiety or pain that you'd be noticing previously."
3. When patients arrive for their procedure, they are outfitted with the VR headset. Mr. Hunt helps them select a game and learn how to use the technology. Then Mr. Hunt collaborates with the medical team to monitor heart rate, anxiety level and pain levels before, during and after the procedure.
4. Children's Hospital Los Angeles said its program could be a blueprint for hospitals.
"We've yet to encounter another hospital using VR to get patients through procedures with an embedded VR technologist," Dr. Miller said.
5. The hospital is working to expand the program to more patients and in more departments.