The latest VR glasses were recently put into use in the Child and Youth department, the operating room complex and the Outpatient Clinic for Pain Management (pain clinic for short) of Gelre hospitals. This was made possible by a donation from the Friends Gelre Hospital Foundation.
VR, or Virtual Reality, is a technology that is increasingly being used in healthcare for pain management. When someone puts on VR glasses, they find themselves in a virtual world. For example, patients can watch a movie or play a game. This distracts them from the treatment and has a pain-relieving effect. Jolanda Beij, nurse specialist at the Pijnpoli, says: “With VR glasses you can escape from everyday reality for a while. You imagine yourself in a different reality. And that is exactly what our patients need.”
The buttocks are used at the pain clinic for pain education and pain management treatment. This means that the duration of pain treatment can sometimes be shortened by half if the patient is loaned VR glasses. In addition, the glasses offer a solution in the operating room, to reduce anxiety and pain, as well as in children, to make an exciting hospital visit a little more pleasant. Finally, the VR glasses can relieve the pain during wound care, something they have also noticed at Omring location Het Baken in Hoorn.
Keep innovating
Gelre hospitals had glasses in their possession before, but they were very outdated. Due to rapid development, technological tools are becoming outdated quickly and hospitals must continuously innovate. But that is expensive. Beij: “How wonderful it is that we are now receiving ten pairs of glasses for Gelre, which are paid for by the Friends Gelre Hospital Foundation. This means it will remain possible for Gelre hospitals to continue using this innovation in the coming years.” The Friends Gelre Hospital Foundation provides financial support to Gelre for the Apeldoorn and Zutphen locations. This particularly concerns expenses that cannot be financed from the regular hospital budget.
Beij talks about a patient who had had chronic pain for many decades and had already had many treatments. This patient could be helped better thanks to the VR glasses. “We used the VR glasses in the pain management treatment program. This gave this patient more insight into how pain works and how to influence it in a positive way. The patient became more relaxed and together we were able to set new, more challenging goals in the treatment process.”
Use VR glasses against pain
VR glasses and applications are increasingly used to relax patients or distract them from the experience of pain. For example, Van Weel-Bethesda has been using VR glasses in the ICU and children’s department since 2021. The HMC Endometriosis Center uses VR glasses to relieve chronic pain in women. And the Reinier de Graaf hospital also recently purchased several VR glasses, in their case specifically for use in the delivery room. The reason for this was a pilot by the KNOV which showed that the pain score during childbirth could be reduced using VR.
