Virtual Reality as a Perioperative Teaching Tool for Families: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Commonly, families and providers have turned to internet-based resources to provide insight as to the perioperative experience. Though there is a large amount of information that is available on the internet, medical information on the internet is of highly variable quality and the information may be conflicting or inaccurate. It is hard for even the savvy well-educated patient and family to navigate and sift through all the information available. Therefore, generic web-based information does not necessarily decrease patient and caregiver anxiety. As an alternative, the investigators propose an interactive teaching tool utilizing virtual reality that may provide a cost-efficient, content-rich supplement to the traditional phone or internet-based patient education. Virtual reality (VR) will be provided to families of patients undergoing ambulatory pediatric surgery. VR will provide personalized education to patients and their families about the entire continuum of the child's surgical experience. This will range from the hospital registration, the peri-operative experience, including the separation of the child from the parent in the pre-operative area and the anesthetic induction process, and the post-operative hospital ward. The virtual reality (VR) tool will also review the in-hospital post-operative recovery process. The patient will be shown this either via an oculus headset or using their own smartphone device. In addition to improving a parent's comprehension of what their child will experience, the investigators expect that the virtual reality tool may also improve patient and caregiver satisfaction with the overall perioperative experience.