How VR Tours Increase Patient Satisfaction — A Case Study
Making use of immersive VR video experiences, medical professionals are reducing patient stress
Patients undergoing a medical procedure know how nerve-racking it can be. It makes sense, as they are usually completely unfamiliar with the procedure they are going to undergo, or the hospital they will be in for it.
“This lack of familiarity and experience breed stress, anxiety, and mental and physical discomfort.” — Todd Maddox, PH.D
To help familiarize patients with their upcoming procedure, hospitals typically provide written material. Patients are rarely given the opportunity to even visit the hospital. Even if they do, they won’t get to see the operating room. This approach is very ineffective, as patients are left having to imagine everything that will happen during the procedure based off the written material. On the day of, the unfamiliarity leaves patients completely anxious.
So how can patients have a better experience, and become more familiar with the procedure they are about to undergo?
VR Tours to Increase Patient Familiarity
“The best way to familiarize a patient with the hospital setting and the upcoming medical procedure, is to take the patient on a comprehensive on-site tour. This is cost-prohibitive, but what if we could take them on a comprehensive virtual tour?” — Todd Maddox, Ph.D
In order to get patients accustomed to their upcoming procedure, VR tours can be used very effectively. VR tours can be created for and distributed on mobile devices, making them easy to access for a large variety of patients without the hospital having to provide additional materials. If they wish to provide materials, a Google Cardboard can be provided for very cheap.
Current research into VR for patient satisfaction has been led by the team IKONA, who works closely with eevo to distribute content for hospitals and other medical environments.
Armed with a VR experience, a patient can experience everything they need to become comfortable with the hospital environment. They can explore the different rooms of the hospital, get walked through their upcoming operation by a doctor, and see where they will be spending their time.
To make sure patients are leaving their VR experience more prepared for surgery than when they arrived, IKONA uses eevo’s interactivity tools to create in VR questionnaires. These questions are used as a way to determine patients state of mind both before their VR experience and after it. The answer to these questions can then be output for each individual patient to an LMS, an excel doc, or a custom dashboard.
The Proof
“Familiarity and experience reduce stress, anxiety and discomfort. The psychological research is clear on that point. The result is a patient who is as relaxed and as confident as can be expected when they enter the hospital setting for the actual medical procedure. Relaxation and confidence
increase satisfaction.” — Todd Maddox, Ph. D.
The team behind IKONA, a company that creates medical VR experiences, have shown the success of the use case for VR through testing. They reported that:
“In a randomized controlled trial, we demonstrated that patients exposed to preoperative VR had increased satisfaction during the surgical encounter. Harnessing the power of this technology, hospitals can create an immersive environment that minimizes stress, and enhances the preoperative experience.” — Kimon Bekelis, MD.
The Numbers
The full report can be found here but the numbers conclude a very positive effect on patient satisfaction by exposing them to a virtual reality experience of their upcoming procedure. For example, the average EVAN-G score (a self-reported instrument that assesses patient experience and satisfaction during the preoperative period) was
“84.3 (standard deviation, SD, 6.4) after an immersive VR experience, and 64.3 (SD, 11.7) after standard preoperative experience. Exposure to an immersive VR experience led to higher EVAN-G score (difference, 20.0; 95% confidence interval, CI, 16.6–23.3) in the unadjusted analysis.”
The average APAIS (a self-reported questionnaire to evaluated preoperative patient anxiety,) was
“ 90.7 after an immersive VR experience and 60.8 after standard preoperative experience. Exposure to an immersive VR experience led to higher APAIS score (difference, 29.9; 95% CI, 24.5–35.2) in the unadjusted analysis.”
Overall,
“The VR group was more prepared, and had less stress in the preoperative period.”- Kimon Bekelis, MD.
Making Medical VR Content
The best method for creating VR tours is by working with a talented content creator like IKONA who specializes in both creating and licensing medical VR content. IKONA will work closely with you and their partner eevo to launch VR capability in your organization.
IKONA also specializes in eevo’s tools for interactivity. Adding interactivity options to your VR Tours gives patients a better sense of control, as they can choose to ask questions to the doctor and explore each room on their own time as they navigate the hospital.
To get started now, reach out to the IKONA team about content creation. If you’re interested in exploring the eevo interactive toolset for yourself, sign up for a free trial account.
Thanks for reading!
