Preoperative Anxiety Reduction Through Augmented Reality Rehearsals

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital information on the real world, while Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that immerses users in a completely artificial environment. In medicine, both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have been increasingly useful, including medical training, psychology, physical therapy, and rehabilitative medicine, as well as surgical specialties such as neurosurgery and orthopedics. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted on AR's effect on anxiety and experience among patients (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Augmented reality in surgical training: a systematic review

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How Augmented Reality (AR) Eases Anxiety in Preoperative Patients?

Researchers found that patients who received the preoperative AR had a significant decrease in preoperative anxiety scores versus those who received standard education materials in randomized clinical trials in the US.

There was no significant difference in anxiety levels after the operations, according to the study published in the journal JAMA Network Open. The randomized clinical trial was approved by the institutional review board at the University of Miami and led by Michael G. Rizzo, corresponding author.

Participants were recruited from the University of Miami and included patients who were indicated to have an elective, outpatient orthopedic surgery.The AR intervention visually walks patients through their trip to the operating room with narration from their surgeon while using an AR headset.

AR experience takes approximately 3 minutes. Anxiety experienced by patients before a surgical intervention is a well-documented phenomenon, occurring in up to 60-80 per cent of patients, and it can lead to alterations in cognitive and physiologic function. While AR and VR have been used to improve patient education about the specifics of their procedure, to our knowledge, no studies have been performed that examine AR’s ability to affect patient anxiety and experience in the outpatient surgical setting.

“We hypothesize that by applying the AR to perioperative patient education and experience, we can decrease perioperative patient anxiety and improve patient experience and satisfaction,” the authors wrote.

Reference:

1. Augmented reality in surgical training: a systematic review - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32229513/)

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