The Effect of Video Viewing With Virtual Reality Glasses on Pain and Anxiety During Urethral Bladder Catheterization

Urinary catheterization is an interventional practice performed by placing a urinary catheter, which is a latex, polyurethane or silicone tube, into the bladder through the patient's urethra to evacuate the urine accumulated in the bladder for diagnosis and treatment purposes. Urinary catheterization is one of the most frequently used procedures in emergency departments. A urinary catheter is applied at least once to 5-11% of patients applying to the emergency department. Urinary catheter in emergency departments; It is applied for acute or chronic urinary retention, relief of urinary tract obstruction, determination of residual urine amount, prostate hyperplasia, drainage of hypotonic bladder, neurogenic bladder, urdodynamic examinations, contrast radiological examination, obtaining sterile urine sample and bladder irrigation in hematuria. Pain and anxiety are among the common symptoms in patients undergoing urinary catheterization.

During the urinary catheterization procedure, 2% lidocaine gel is the most commonly used agent and is applied in an average amount of 6-10 ml. Since the procedure area is still sensitive despite appropriate local anesthesia, patients cannot be completely prevented from experiencing pain and anxiety . When the literature is scanned, it is reported that 75.4-95.3% of patients who underwent urinary catheterization experience pain, and that this pain is at moderate to severe levels in approximately 41.2-88.7% of the patients . Yücel found the frequency of anxiety in patients who underwent urinary catheterization to be 85%, and it was determined that 37% of this anxiety was mild, 64% was moderate, and 79% was severe .

In addition to local anesthesia, parecetemol and dexketoprofen derivative painkillers can be administered orally, intramuscularly and intravenously to control pain and anxiety that may develop during and after the urinary catheterization procedure. It has been shown that these pharmacological methods used in pain and anxiety control reduce pain and anxiety in patients, but may cause some side effects such as hypotension, bradycardia, nausea and vomiting, skin rash, itching, increase the need for auxiliary personnel and equipment, and prolong the patient's hospital stay.

Nurses who are with the patient for a long time have a major role in reducing pain and anxiety. In painful interventional procedures such as urinary catheterization, some non-pharmacological methods are applied by nurses to prevent pain and anxiety. In this context, practices such as music therapy and hypnosis are used . Apart from music and hypnosis, another non-pharmacological method that can be used to control pain and anxiety is Virtual Reality Glasses (VR). VR, one of the methods of diverting attention, is an advanced form of human-computer interaction that allows people to hear the sounds and stimuli accompanying the visual landscape through headphones, allowing the person to feel in another world by moving away from the hospital . Research conducted with SGG shows that virtual reality is an effective method for pain control , post-burn physiotherapy, outpatient chemotherapy treatment , port insertion, lumbar puncture, labor pain , AVF cannulation and breast biopsy , the video watched with SGG has been shown to reduce pain and anxiety. It has been shown to be effective on There is no study in the literature showing the effect of SGG use on pain and anxiety control during urinary catheter procedure.

The aim of our study is to reveal the effect of virtual reality glasses on pain and anxiety in patients undergoing urinary catheter procedure. A limited amount of literature reports that virtual reality glasses are effective in controlling pain and anxiety before and during various interventional procedures. In this context, as researchers, the investigators believe that this is a study with high original value.