The effect of using virtual reality glasses on post-care pain and comfort level in intensive care patients

The aim of this study was to determine the level of pain and comfort from the implementation of virtual reality applied before nursing care in patients undergoing treatment in intensive care. The research was conducted in the Internal Medicine Intensive Care Unit of a university hospital. The population of the research consisted of patients who were admitted to the internal medicine unit, who were between 18 and 65 years of age, who were conscious and had a GCS of 10 or more, who had no auditory or visual impairment, and who were not receiving mechanical ventilation support. A total of 60 patients took part in the study, divided by a randomization method into a 30-member experimental group and a 30-member control group. Data collection was by face to face interview, using a Sociodemographic Characteristics and Information Description Form, a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the General Comfort Scale Short Form (GCS-SF). Before nursing care, the experimental group watched calming videos with a virtual reality headset, and 24 hours after care, their pain and general comfort levels were evaluated. In the analysis of the data collected, percentages, t test, the Mann Whitney u test and Spearman correlation analysis were used. The patients' satisfaction with the virtual reality headsets was evaluated between 1 and 10, and was found to be 9.15. Pain levels were also evaluated between 1 and 10. A significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups 24 hours after care in their VAS and GCS-SF total scores and the score of the sub-scale of overcoming problems (p<0.05). It was found that after using the virtual reality headsets, the patients' pain level was reduced and their comfort level increased. It is recommended that this can be safely included in the independent professional roles of nurses, and that virtual reality intervention, a non-pharmacological approach, can be safely applied to patients in the intensive care environment.