Virtual Reality as an Adjunctive Non-pharmacological Therapy to Reduce Pain in School-Aged Children With Burn Wounds

Abstract

This paper explores the effectiveness of virtual reality in reducing pain in school-aged children undergoing burn wound care. From June 2020 to September 2021, 34 cases of burned children treated in the burn clinic of a hospital were selected. A before- and after-study design was utilized to observe the first and second wound dressing changes of the same patients. The two dressing changes were randomly selected for the VR plan and the Non-VR plan. In VR Plan, patients played virtual reality games using a headset and gamepad to distract from their pain. To determine the effectiveness of VR, the children’s pain score, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and adverse reactions such as dizziness and nausea were recorded ten minutes before wound dressing change, during wound dressing change and ten minutes after the bandages was on. The Wong-Baker and FLACC scores of the patients in the VR group were (5.79 ± 1.84) and (4.91 ± 2.08), respectively, whereas the scores of the patients in the non-VR group were (5.47 ± 1.99) and (4.91 ± 2.25), respectively, 10 minutes before wound dressing changes. During wound dressing changes, the Wong-Baker and FLACC scores of patients in the VR group were (3.78 ± 1.49) and (2.73 ± 1.38), respectively, whereas the scores of patients in the non-VR group were (5.58 ± 2.48) and (4.97 ± 2.39), respectively. After wound dressing changes, the Wong-Baker and FLACC scores of patients in the VR group were (2.44 ± 1.65) and (2.12 ± 1.34), respectively, and the scores of patients in the non-VR group were (4.21 ± 2.42) and (3.75 ± 2.05), respectively. The study concludes that virtual reality is effective in reducing pain in school-aged children with burn wounds. The study also concludes that virtual reality does not cause adverse reactions.