The effect of virtual reality glasses on patient anxiety during emergency surgery with local anesthesia

This study was carried out to determine the effect of virtual reality glasses on patient's anxiety during emergency surgery with local anesthesia. The sample of this single-center, prospective, two-armed (1:1) randomized controlled clinical study consisted of 138 patients admitted to the emergency department of a hospital for emergency surgery with local anesthesia between February-March 2022. The patients were divided into study and control groups by randomization. The study group (n=69) underwent emergency surgery with local anesthesia while watching videos with virtual reality glasses. The control group (n=69) underwent the routine procedures of the clinic. The anxiety level of the patients after emergency surgery was evaluated with the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). The physiological response to anxiety was measured before and after emergency surgery using blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) values. In addition to descriptive statistics, Pearson-χ2, t-test in dependent and independent groups, Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U test were used for data analysis. The mean scores anxiety of the patients in the study and control groups significantly decreased after the procedure compared to before the surgery (p<0.05). The mean score of anxiety the study group before the emergency surgery was significantly higher, however, the score after the emergency surgery was significantly lower than the control group (p<0.05). Patients in the study group had an increased SpO2 value while their SBP, DBP, HR, RR decreased after the procedure (p<0.05). Only the RR of the control group participants decreased significantly after the procedure compared to before the surgery (p<0.05). The DBP and RR average of the study group prior to surgery were higher than the control group whereas SBP, DBP and RR were significantly lower and SpO2 significantly higher after surgery (p<0.05). The research revealed that virtual reality glasses reduced the anxiety of patients who underwent emergency surgery with local anesthesia. Also, all the physiological parameters except HR was positively impacted. In line with the results obtained, virtual reality glasses application, which is an easy-to-apply, non-pharmacological, non-invasive, cost-effective and effective method in reducing anxiety in patients undergoing emergency surgery under local anesthesia recommended. New multi-center studies on the subject can be conducted.