Preoperative virtual reality experience may improve patient satisfaction and reduce anxiety

Commentary on: Bekelis K, Calnan D, Simmons N, et al. Effect of an immersive preoperative virtual reality experience on patient-reported outcomes: a randomised controlled trial. Ann Surg 2017;265:1068–73.

Implications for practice and research

The assessment of patient experience is essential for evaluating surgical outcomes.

Patient satisfaction with the perioperative experience depends on a patient having experiences that match expectations.

By adapting patient expectations to real life, virtual reality (VR) could improve their global experience.

Context

Most patients undergoing surgery are anxious.1 Addressing anxiety is a serious concern for the improvement of patient experience during the perioperative period. A previous study about anxiolytic premedication failed to demonstrate any improvement in patient experience,2 suggesting that treating surgery-induced anxiety as an illness may not be the answer. Besides anxiety, a patients’ need for information is an important aspect that should be addressed because of its weight in the patient global experience of the...

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