Patients at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) are now being offered an unexpected new form of pain relief – virtual reality.
In a ground-breaking initiative, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) is using immersive VR headsets to help patients manage pain and anxiety during certain medical procedures. The project is already making waves for its success in helping people feel calmer, more in control, and – crucially – less dependent on medication.
“Using the software and the headset allows the patients to go through a virtual woodland, with the movement in the virtual environment accompanied by relaxed breathing,” said Ivo Dukic, Urology Consultant at QEHB.
“This helps calm and distract the patient from the shockwaves used to break the stones that are present in the kidney or ureter.
“Previous studies have found that this distraction technique of virtual reality reduces the pain experienced during shockwave treatment and allows a higher energy of shockwaves to be delivered to help break kidney stones.
“The virtual reality really enhanced the experience of our patient, who was able to tolerate a much higher energy of treatment with the same painkillers as he had on the first occasion.”
Karl Roberts, the first patient to undergo shockwave treatment using the VR headset, said: “The VR system helped tremendously during the procedure. Despite noticing the increase in pain, the VR platform helped to keep me distracted and to have something to focus on. The procedure, which was around 45 minutes, felt a lot shorter.”
Baljit Tanda-Bosson, Renal Stone Specialist Nurse, who has been working on the project, added: “This new approach has been really good, and has worked in both relaxing patients and giving them a distraction.”
The technology may also be applied to other urological procedures and could potentially reduce the need for more invasive surgeries, offering savings and comfort alike.
