Designing a Virtual Reality Intervention to Improve Physical and Psychological Health in Intensive Care Units (GAMERS)

Duke University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Heart Surgery; Mobility; ICU; Nursing

Treatments: Behavioral: VR assisted mobility

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06797895

PRO00116448

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to explore if Virtual Reality helps patients in the cardiothoracic ICU move more and feel better. Participants will be asked to answer a survey about anxiety, depression, and loneliness. The study team will teach participants how to use the VR device and how to play the game. Participants will play the game at least once per day, but can play as much as they want. Study activities include nurse facilitated patient use of VR applications that involve upper body movement (e.g., using arms and hands to dance or hit objects in a virtual reality environment).

Full description

Patients who survive critical illness and prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stays are at risk for debilitating physical (deconditioning, skin injury, and infection), and mental health impairment (depression, anxiety and PTSD). Early mobility improves these deleterious outcomes but is challenging to implement in patients on prolonged bedrest. The purpose of this study is to compare a nurse-led implementation of a Virtual Reality (VR) experience in the Cardio-Thoracic Intensive Care Unit (CT-ICU) to standard of care to improve mobility for patients on prolonged bedrest. The investigators hypothesize that nurse-led implementation of VR experiences in the CT-ICU, in combination with engineering-led patient-centered customization of the VR applications, will improve both the physical and psychological function of ICU patients on prolonged bedrest.

Enrollment: 30 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adult
• English speaking
• 3+ days ICU admission with limited mobility

Exclusion criteria

• Pregnancy
• Blind/severe visual impairment
• History of seizures
• Intubation/sedation
• Special enteric contact isolation

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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30 participants in 1 patient group

Virtual Reality (VR) intervention

Other group

Description:

Cohort for observing the effects of the VR intervention on ICU mobility.

Treatment:

Behavioral: VR assisted mobility