Relieve pain with virtual reality

Pain is common with dressing changes. Many patients are very afraid of the dressing change, especially when the medical staff wants to do it quickly. I have seen many elderly patients have their skin peeled when they pull out the bandages. So many people have to take painkillers before changing bandages. Instead of giving painkillers, an experiment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles showed patients wearing the Samsung Gear virtual reality glasses (often used for gaming). The sick person will "be" able to walk by the pool, swim under the sea with dolphins, or visit dinosaur farms etc. (this is basically just a distraction technique) without taking any painkillers. The results were very positive, many patients noticed less pain when the dressing was changed (75%) and less fear after that. They also find the dressing change time shortened.

Photo: Patient using Samsung Gear while changing dressing at Rockyview Hospital in Calgary, Canada.

(Source: Hosptal News (Canada), March 2019 issue)