Virtual Reality to Decrease Child Anxiety With Allergy Testing.

Background

Allergy testing is typically performed as a skin prick test. This test can cause pain and anxiety in children.

Objective

The goal of this project was to improve the patient experience during allergy testing.

Methods

This quality improvement project employed a pretest-posttest design to assess pediatric anxiety levels before and after exposure to virtual reality (VR).

Results

There was a significant decrease in anxiety scores pre- to post-VR implementation. Anxiety scores of patients who wore VR were significantly less than when VR was not used (M = 2.29 vs. 5.43). Anxiety scores demonstrated a greater decrease with VR in the 4-9 years old age group (M = 5 vs. 1.33) compared with the 2-3 years old age group (M = 5.75 vs. 3). Patients wore the VR headset from 1 to 10 minutes, with a mean time of 4.07 minutes. The 4-9 years old age group stayed engaged longer in the VR headset (7 minutes) versus the 2-3 years old age group (1.88 minutes). Satisfaction scores were high among caregivers and patients. Staff reported feeling between neutral and highly satisfied.

Conclusions

This project suggested the use of VR during allergy testing reduced anxiety. Implications for Nursing: VR may be a useful nonpharmacological intervention for nurses to use during allergy testing to improve the patient and family experience.