EC Clinical and Medical Case Reports

Introduction: ICU delirium is a serious condition that results in an acute change in the mental state of critically ill patients, with disturbances to their consciousness, attention, cognition and perception. It can lead to increased lengths of stay, poor clinical outcomes, increased costs and residual psychological sequelae. We hypothesize that virtual reality (VR) may provide an ideal platform for controlled, scalable, and effective environmental manipulation in the ICU.

Aim and Objective: To study the effectiveness of VR goggles in the reduction of ICU delirium.

Materials and Methods: The OCULUS VR system was used in this study. The VR system consisted of the Oculus Go VR headset with a hand-held controller. In addition to the VR headset, patients were provided with earphones to provide the audio for the VR experience and reduce environmental noise. Both the headset and the earphones were affixed with protective sanitary covers. The CAM ICU score 7 was used to assess the delirium.The effectiveness of VR goggles to reduce the ICU delirium was evaluated during the subsequent 4 days.

Results: Fifty patients admitted to the icu were divided into two groups, one group had goggles (VR) and other the standard treatment group (CR).

The difference in mean CAM 7 scores was not statistically significant though higher in VR compared to CR on day 0 (5.0 ± 0.87 > 4.9 ± 0.95), same in both VR and CR on day 1 (4.4 ± 0.91 = 4.4 ± 0.86), slightly higher in VR compared to CR on day 2 (4.0 ± 1.00 > 3.9 ± 0.76) and lesser in VR compared to CR (3.4 ± 0.99 < 3.8 ± 0.97) on day 3. But on day 4, mean CAM 7 scores of VR (2.5 ± 1.01) was significantly lower than controls (3.3 ± 1.34) which was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The decrease in CAM 7 scores from day 0 to day 4 is more in VR (2.5 ± 01) compared to CR (1.6 ± 1.60), and the difference in decrease between VR and CR were statistically significant (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The virtual reality goggles can be used as a simplest non pharmacological method to reduce the incidence of ICU delirium.

Keywords: Arsenal; ICU Delirium; Virtual Reality (VR)

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