It was a group of Cystic Fibrosis patients that Rescape, the developers of DR. VR, began to work with first. Due to that condition, patients are often treated in isolation, due to the threat of infection, where they can experience anxiety, breathlessness and pain. A solution was needed that was simple and straightforward to deliver for healthcare professionals with little or no experience in VR. VR can be complicated and difficult to use if you have little or no experience, and this could not be a barrier to patients or healthcare professionals. As with all new technology, there were several challenges to overcome, including:

• Wi-Fi in a healthcare setting is unreliable
• VR inexperience (staff and patients)
• Infection control
• Data collection of the results
• Only approved suitable content to be experienced
• Be highly immersive and engaging
• Ensure the maximum number of patients can use the system (many people can be affected by motion sickness, dizziness, etc. if the experiences are not created correctly – limiting the number of participants).

As such, a closed system was developed whereby the VR headset and the experiences were all controlled by a tablet. All the experiences were held on the device to ensure they could be used in any location in the hospital – no Wi-Fi was required. This was a HUGE breakthrough for the project, freeing us from attempting to control things that were highly likely to create issues.

Disabling the functions on the VR headset and allowing the healthcare professional to control the entire experience through a tablet, ensured the healthcare professional could moderate the content shown and made it easy and simple to implement. The system was so simple the staff did not require any training outside from the initial demonstration, and they were able to demonstrate immediately to other colleagues.

The VR delivery was through the Samsung Gear VR headset, a hard-plastic headset which is able to be wiped down and disinfected (many VR headsets are not suitable for a healthcare setting due to the materials used). We also provided VR Sanitary Masks to adhere to infection control guidelines and also to ensure no irritation for the patients.

 In addition to utilising the tablet to control the experiences, the device also collated data. The doctors wanted to be able to collate the patient’s anxiety/stress level pre and post VR experience and store the data effectively. Two apps were developed – one for the tablet and one for the VR device and connected them to allow the transfer of data and to be able to access the data in real time in a simple and straightforward process. The tablet led the healthcare professional through the process to ensure operational simplicity. 

6 experiences were created to cover a wide demographic and were all produced in 4K with a static 360 camera. This ensured motion sickness would not be a factor but also ensured a closed system where only these experiences could be viewed.

Each experience was 7.5mins in duration and we heightened the engagement by creating documentary style experiences engaging the patient so they felt like a participant in the experience and not just a viewer.

By developing a closed system it ensured the content was able to be monitored and no unapproved content could be viewed. For example, immersing Beryl (80 years old) in a high adrenaline rollercoaster experience would give very adverse effects to managing her stress and anxiety!

The trials were conducted with patients (aged between 17-54 years old) who were experiencing a high level of stress and anxiety.

 The four levels were: Slightly; Fairly; Very and Extremely

Pre VR experience: 49% were slightly anxious; 25% fairly; 16% very and 10% extremely anxious.

 Post VR experience: 50% displayed zero levels of anxiety and stress. Overall there was a 64.8% improvement of anxiety and stress

Pre VR experience: 61% slightly; 35% fairly and 4% very anxious.

Post VR experience: 91.4% displayed zero levels of anxiety.

Pre VR experience: 34% slightly; 22% fairly; 22% very and 22% extremely anxious.

Post VR experience: There was a 100% improvement for all participants and all participants displaying extreme levels of anxiety pre VR experience reduced to none, slightly or fairly.

Both patients and staff found VR acceptable and easy to use, and as can be seen, the results were astonishing! There was a major decrease in symptoms of anxiety post VR distraction therapy experience noted in the majority of patients – up to an average reduction of 75% in patient’s anxiety!