Protocol: STUDY00007928

Efficacy of Virtual Reality in Reducing Anxiety During Laceration Repairs in a Pediatric Emergency Department.

The University at Buffalo (UB) Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine is recruiting kids and teens with cuts in the Oishei Children’s Hospital emergency room (ER) for a virtual reality (VR) study. The goal of the study is to see if using a VR headset can help to make kids/teens feel less anxious while doctors repair their wounds.

Kid/teen patients in the ER will be randomly assigned (which happens by chance, like flipping a coin) to one of two groups: (1) will be engaged with a VR world or game during cut repair or (2) will watch TV, play a tablet, listen to music, or play on a smartphone during cut repair (which is the typical standard of care). Participants will be asked to rate their level of anxiety both before and after the cut repair and fill out questions about their past experiences of anxiety.

We hypothesize that patients who are engaged in a VR setting will display significantly lower levels of anxiety, as gauged per self-report, when compared to patients who receive the standard of care distraction techniques during laceration repairs.

Compensation: No

Eligibility

Age Group: Both Adults and Children

Principal Investigator: SARA SZELES

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