1 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A U G U S T 2 0 1 9
Ideas Work
That
C
ertain procedures
cause anxiety for
patients. That's espe-
cially true at my facility,
where we're treating children.
When we received a $13,000
grant for 3 virtual reality (VR)
headsets, we put them to
good use, and it's been a huge
success for us. I've used VR
with 6 patients so far, and it's
been used in our oncology and
neurology clinics, too.
To go with the headsets, we
have special phones that fea-
ture 3 VR apps. There's a
scuba diving app where you
dive down and shoot bubbles
at fish. There's a meditation
app. And there's an MRI expe-
rience — the kids watch it
through the goggles as if
they're having an MRI, so they better know what
to expect before they actually
have one.
Each child gets an indi-
vidual package before he
uses the VR set. It has a
hair net, and a piece of
foam that sticks on front of
the goggles, on the part
that's up against their face.
We put covers over the
headphones of the headset.
Once a patient is done, we
remove all those things, and
then use sanitizing wipes to
clean the strap, the head-
phones and the goggles. We
also use lens cleansers on
the goggles.
Andrea Westmoreland
Atrium Health Levine
Children's Hospital
Charlotte, N.C.
andrea.westmoreland@atriumhealth.com
Virtual Reality Headsets Take Patients to Another Place
• DISTRACTION IN ACTION VR headsets can help take
patients' minds off unpleasant procedures.
Atrium
Health
Levine
Children's
Hospital
VIDEO GREETING
A Personalized Video Recap for Each Patient
M
y orthopedic patients
are often groggy
from the effects of
anesthesia when I meet with
them minutes after surgery to
let them know how the proce-
dure went and what to expect
during the initial hours of
recovery. That's why I record
short videos on an iPad in the
OR hallway to thank patients
by name for coming to our sur-
gery center. I discuss what I
saw and did during the procedure, and touch on key
elements of pain management and wound care, and
tell them when to schedule the follow-up clinic
appointment. We send the
videos in a HIPAA-compliant
email to patients, who love to
receive the personalized mes-
sages when they get home. An
unexpected and added bonus:
I've received fewer post-op
phone calls from patients who
don't fully understand dis-
charge instructions or have
questions about what they're
experiencing during recovery.
Brian Busconi, MD
UMass Memorial Health Care
Worcester, Mass.
brian.busconi@umassmemorial.org
• INSTANT REPLAY After each surgery, orthopedic surgeon Brian
Busconi, MD, records a quick post-op video message on his iPad, and
then emails the recap to his patients.
UMass
Memorial
Health
Care
