VR for Pain Management During Adult Burn Dressing Change

Virtual Reality Distraction to Reduce Opioid Pain Medication Use During Adult Burn Dressing Change

A randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of the VR-based Pain Alleviation Tool (VR-PAT) in reducing opioid pain medication use during adult burn dressing changes.

A pilot three group gender-balanced randomized clinical trial (RCT) among adult burn patients (18 years old or above) at OSU Medical Center Inpatient Burn Program. The intervention group will receive VR-PAT as a distraction tool during the dressing change procedure (active VR group) while the comparison groups will receive either a comparable passive VR distraction tool that uses the same hardware and visual/audio features, but requires no active interaction (Control Group 1), or no distraction at all (Control Group 2).

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Adult burn patient age 18-70
2. First admission for acute burn requiring dressing change
3. First admission for burn injury
4. Using Opioids for dressing changes
5. Burn is ≤ 4 days post burn

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Severe burn(s) on the face/head preventing utilization of VR
2. Cognitive/motor impairment preventing valid administration of study measures
3. Unable to communicate in English
4. Prisoners and patients who were pregnant
5. Patients admitted to the ICU