title: Virtual reality for acute pain reduction in adolescents undergoing burn wound care: a prospective randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Effective pain management remains a challenge for adolescents during conscious burn wound care procedures. Virtual reality (VR) shows promise as a non-pharmacological adjunct in reducing pain.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study assessed off-the-shelf VR for (1) its effect on reducing acute pain intensity during adolescent burn wound care, and (2) its clinical utility in a busy hospital setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-one adolescents (11-17 years) participated in this prospective randomized controlled trial. Acute pain outcomes including adolescent self-report, nursing staff behavioral observation, caregiver observation and physiological measures were collected. Length of procedure times and adolescent reactions were also recorded to inform clinical utility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nursing staff reported a statistically significant reduction in pain scores during dressing removal, and significantly less rescue doses of Entonox given to those receiving VR, compared to those receiving standard distraction. For all other pain outcomes and length of treatment, there was a trend for lower pain scores and treatment times for those receiving VR, but these differences were not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite only minimal pain reduction achieved using off-the-shelf VR, other results from this trial and previous research on younger children with burns suggest a customized, adolescent and hospital friendly device may be more effective in pain reduction.
authors.affiliation: The Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma Research, Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, The Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, The University of Queensland, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. belinda.kipping@uqconnect.edu.au
authors.forename: Belinda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kipping
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodger
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Roy M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Kimble
mesh_terms: D059787:Acute Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000293:Adolescent; D000698:Analgesia / Q000379:methods; D001458:Bandages; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059408:Pain Management; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D018910:Video Games