Virtual Reality MObility for Burn Patients

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Trial end date: 2022-12-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Background: Each year, more than 40 severely burned children aged 7 to 17 are treated at the CHU Sainte-Justine trauma center. The treatment of burns, dressing changes as well as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and hydrotherapy are considered to be among the most painful medical procedures. These are usually recurrent treatments that generate a lot of anxiety and can leave their long-term negative impact on the child's memory and relationship to pain. To date, no distraction has been tried to distract these children during these painful procedures. The use of virtual reality as a distraction tool has proven itself as a non-pharmacological therapeutic modality. However, very little data exists on its use in this context.

Hypothesis: VR distraction provides better pain relief during hydrotherapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, in children from 7 to 17 years old.

Methods: Within-subject/crossover study design. Each child serves as his own control and receives both standard and experimental treatment during the same treatment session through a randomized order. Convenience sampling of 20 children aged from 6 to 17 years old presenting with a burn injury to the medical-surgical unit or rehabilitation clinics of the CHU Ste-Justine and CRME. Standard pharmacological care as per the unit's protocol will be given to the control group as opposed to VR distraction combined with the Standard care for the experimental group. Pain (NRS 0-10) and anxiety (CFS, 0-4) will be measured before the treatment session at (T0), after the first sequence of the session (T1) and after the second sequence of the session (T2) followed by a measure of parents' and healthcare professionals' level of satisfaction via a questionnaire developed and pretested by the team. Memory of pain and anxiety will be assessed about a week after the procedure (T3). Data is also collected on the occurrence of side effects.

Discussion: The investigators believe that results of this study could transform a hospital experience that is a priori negative, or even traumatic, into a fun and positive experience, both for the children and the families by improving pain and anxiety management practices for rehabilitation procedures for burn victims (hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy) at a low cost.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: St. Justine's Hospital

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Between the ages of 6 to 17 years and suffering from a burn injury requiring hydrotherapy, physiotherapy or occupational therapy care

• Presence of a consenting parent who can understand, read and write either French or English.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Have a diagnosed cognitive impairment precluding them from playing a virtual reality game

• Suffer from epilepsy considering the nature of the intervention

• Have burn injuries on the face preventing the use of the Oculus Quest Helmet

• Cannot be in a sitting or semi-upright sitting position (semi-Fowler's position) during the procedure as the virtual reality game requires an angle of at least 30 degrees for head-tracking. Participants who received analgesics (e.g. acetaminophen, ibuprofen) or anxiolytics (e.g. benzodiazepines) during the last 4 hours prior to the procedure will not be excluded but the name of medication, dosage and time of administration will be documented in the data collection form.