Virtual Reality: A Game Changer for Children’s Medical Procedures

Abstract

Going to the hospital can be scary for children, especially when they must go through a painful procedure. Doctors, nurses, and other health professionals may use special distraction techniques to help take children’s minds off the pain. There is a cool new way to help distract children from painful procedures. It is called virtual reality (VR). A study was done at a children’s hospital that specializes in bone care. The researchers wanted to know if VR was easy to use at the hospital to help the children deal with pain. The study included 44 children who had different kinds of procedures done, like having a needle put in their vein, removing stitches, having blood taken, and more. The researchers concluded that VR can help. VR is fast and easy to use, almost everyone liked it, and it works. To help with pain relief, virtual reality has all the ingredients to be a recipe for success!