Feasibility and Acceptability of Virtual Reality Intensive Care Unit Orientations

BACKGROUND: Visitors to the intensive care unit may be intimidated by the unfamiliar equipment and complex treatment interventions. Virtual reality orientation could be used to acquaint them with the intensive care unit environment. PURPOSE: To examine the acceptability and feasibility of virtual reality orientation compared with standard orientation for visitors to an intensive care unit. METHODS: In this prospective, within-subject experimental design study, visitors underwent a 3-minute virtual reality orientation and completed a survey about the feasibility (feasibility of intervention measure) and acceptability (acceptability of intervention measure) of the virtual reality intensive care unit orientation. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the mean (SD) total feasibility of intervention measure scores for the standard orientation versus the virtual reality orientation (13.0 [2.57] vs 13.3 [2.19], P = .44). In addition, no significant difference was found between the mean (SD) total acceptability of intervention measure scores for the standard orientation versus the virtual reality orientation (12.0 [3.07] vs 11.9 [4.06], P = .90). Eleven of the 30 participants (37%) experienced dizziness while undergoing the virtual reality orientation, with 9 rating it as mild, 1 as moderate, and 1 as severe. CONCLUSION: In this pilot study, virtual reality was found to be an acceptable and feasible orientation tool for visitors to the intensive care unit. Future research should explore virtual reality orientations in different hospital areas.