“Mindfulness is known to be a powerful tool to reset and recharge, but it’s not the easiest thing to just go meditate,” said Robert Louis, chief of neurosurgery and the Empower360 Endowed Chair at Hoag.
“With virtual reality, you have the ability to immerse yourself in a beautiful, relaxing environment.”
CenteredVR
The offering, called CenteredVR, is being deployed for frontline nurses in Hoag’s COVID-19 unit. “We’re one of the first hospitals to deploy a solution to help our nurses battle chronic stress and burnout that’s come along with the pandemic,” Louis said. Participants are provided a VR headset for four-to-six weeks, and have already reported 34% reduction in stress on average.
The concept for CenteredVR was in the works pre-COVID and piloted with nurses on Hoag’s neuro and spine floor.
About 80% of pilot participants reported a reduction in stress and about two-thirds of nurses felt more prepared to return to work, Louis said.
Nashville-based BehaVR and Johns Hopkins Medicine contributed to the development of the program, which incorporates artificial intelligence to tailor experiences to individual participants. For example, individuals can practice mindfulness in different settings with varying music options.
Hoag has been accelerating its foray into virtual reality of late. It started using VR technology to assist surgeons with operations in 2015. It then began exploring applications for patient engagement. Hoag launched a program for expectant mothers last fall and is preparing to unveil a post-operative pain management offering in the coming months.
“We can see on functional MRIs that VR decreases a patient’s focus on the pain, eases the emotional unpleasantness of pain and even diminishes the physical sensation of pain itself. When you see the before and after, it’s amazing,” Louis said.
The hospital is also building an experiential virtual reality center at its Newport Beach campus to elevate and make treatments more accessible to patients, Louis said.
The center is expected to open at the end of the summer.
