Impact of virtual reality on the perception of procedural pain in paediatric oncology.

Introduction: Virtual reality is being used more and more in the healthcare field, particularly during treatment. In the context of pain management, the question arises as to the effectiveness of using virtual reality during care in reducing the perception of procedural pain.

Aim: To study the impact of using virtual reality on the perception of procedural pain and on the course of care in pediatric oncology.

Methods: A quasi-experimental, matched-case-control study conducted at the pediatric oncology unit of the Tunis Children's Hospital over a three-month period. Each child had two nursing care : with and without the use of virtual reality.

Results: Thirty-two children were enrolled. The sex ratio was 0.88. The edia nage was 96 ± 49 months. The care provided was peripheral venous line insertion (53%), blood sampling (32%) and port-a-catheter puncture (15%). The use of virtual reality significantly reduced heart rate (p<0.0001), respiratory rate (p<0.0001) and pain perception (p<0.0001). Workload was reduced, as evidenced by a drop in the duration of nursing care (p<0.0001) and in the number of people needed to carry out care (p<0.0001).

Conclusions: Virtual reality is a good non-pharmacological alternative for procedural pain control in a pediatric oncology unit.