Predicting the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Relaxation on Pain and Anxiety When Added to PCA Morphine in a Population of Burn Patients Having Dressing Changes

Pain associated with burn dressing changes does not arise purely from a physical source; it is also commonly influenced by psychological factors. The anticipation that accompanies a dressing change has the potential to set up fear and heightened anxiety as the patient is aware that at a predetermined time other people will manipulate injured areas on his/her body.

Many techniques of analgesia have been advocated in burn dressing changes. Opiates have been the mainstay, and many techniques for their administration have been described. In particular the use of background plus PCA administration of opiates has been demonstrated to be superior to PCA administration alone. Another analgesic/dissociative agent commonly described for these procedures is Ketamine. Both opiates and ketamine have limitations in that they cause unfavourable side effects such as respiratory depression, sedation and nausea and vomiting in the case of opiates and respiratory depression, hallucinations and unpleasant dreams in the case of ketamine. Other problems relating to the use of opiates and ketamine relate to the approach of treating a multifaceted experience such as burn dressing pain solely with pharmacotherapy.

The need for psychological interventions in burn dressings has been highlighted by many researchers. In particular, Ptacek noted that burn patients experiencing more anxiety tended to have higher ratings of pain, while those with larger areas of burns reported more affective pain and greater variability in pain ratings.

There is strong consistency among reviewers for recommending the addition of adjunctive therapies of a psychological nature for managing patients having burn dressing changes. Patterson et.al in particular is of the belief that burn patients having dressing changes are more amenable to hypnotherapy as an analgesic adjunct.

The nature of psychological interventions examined by researchers have included hypnosis (where strong suggestions were aimed at reducing tension, anxiety, and sensation of pain), rapid induction analgesia, simple stress reducing strategies, attention and information, and autohypnosis. While some have conducted prospective trials which involve large numbers of patients, only one trial actually made mention of randomizing participants. Most other reports examining psychological therapies have been at the case report level.