PROJECT 2020–2023

Virtual Reality
and Coping
with Procedural Pain
in Burn
Patients

The main aim of the intended project is to reduce feeling of procedural pain (when changing bandages) in burn patients through a developed and pilot-verified application for virtual reality (hereinafter VR).

In addition to pharmacological pain therapy, there are a number of nonpharmacological options (eg, relaxation techniques) that are based on distracting attention from the feeling of pain. VR appears to be the most promising of these options and, in addition to distraction, it also reduces anxiety and depressive symptoms and enhances patient cooperation. The studies also agree on the beneficial role of immersivity; a sense of immersion in VR.

Milestones of the project VRBURNS.EU

Milestones of the project

05 2020
Getting support and starting a project
05–05 2020–21
Pilot verification phase
11 2020
Provision of technical equipment (PC – Eyetrackinkg)
12 2020
Realization of I. Workshop

The workshop took place on 19 December 2020 in FN KV. Part of this workshop was the presentation of the project, the involvement of participants and also answering key questions about the whole organization of the involvement of virtual reality in the dressing of the patients. The medical staff also tried out virtual reality, including its inclusion in the clothes of patients with burn trauma, ie. a checklist has been introduced

12 2020
Pilot version of the application in virtual reality
01 2021
Submission of interim report
01 2021
Pilot verification of VR application on the first patient
2 2021
Participation in the conference – PhD. Existence 1-2 February 2021

The aim of the contribution was to present the project and the developed VR application to the professional public.

4 2021
Popularization interview about the project in the magazin TÉMA

https://www.etema.cz/

05 2021
Realization II. Workshop

At this workshop, the application and virtual reality were presented to the medical staff (especially the dressing nurses and doctors). Emphasis was placed on significant differences from the pilot version of the application. This workshop will take place at FN KV.

05 2021
Application for control group
06–06 2021–23
Data collection
9 2021
Presentation of the project and partial results at the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
10 2021
Data were collected from ten patients
4 2022
Conference outputs: 12th Congress Of The European Pain Federation EFIC, Dublin

Raudenska, J., Zielina, M., Dostal, D., Javurkova, A. Virtual Reality and Coping With Anxiety and Associated Procedural Pain In Burn Patients – First Connclusion From The Preliminary Data Of The Project. 12th Congress Of The European Pain Federation EFIC. 27. – 30. 4. 2022, Dublin, Ireland.

05 2022
Project meeting – Realization of III. Workshop
05 2022
Conference outputs: 22nd Annual Burn Medicine Conference, Ostrava

Doležal, D., Zajíček, R. Virtual reality and procedural pain management in burn trauma patients. 22nd Annual Burn Medicine Conference [Virtuální realita a zvládání procedurální bolesti u pacientů s popáleninovým traumatem. 22.výroční konference popáleninové medicíny]. 19. – 20. 5. 2022, Ostrava

09 2022
Data collected from thirty patients
09 2022
Media publicity – FEEDIT -Cold River suppresses the pain of patients at the burn centre of the Královské Vinohrady University Hospital with HTC Vive Pro Eye

The aim of the Czech Virtual Reality and Procedural Pain Management in Burn Patients project is to relieve patients from the pain associated with dressing changes, which also leads to a reduction in the need for analgesics. In addition to the Burn Medicine Clinic of the FNKV, the project, whose technical support is provided by VR Space, also involves the 2nd Medical Faculty of Charles University and the Faculty of Arts of Palacký University in Olomouc. See more HERE. (20. 9. 2022 by feedit.cz, posted in tisková zpráva)

9 2022
Confernce outputs: 39nd Psychology days, Olomouc

Šmahaj, J., Zielina, M., Javůrková, A., Raudenská, J., Dostál, D., Doležal, D., Zajíček, R. Possibilities and limits of procedural pain management in burn trauma patients using virtual reality. [Možnosti a limity zvládání procedurální bolesti u pacientů s popáleninovým traumatem pomocí využití virtuální reality]. Psychologické dny 2022., 14. – 16. 9. 2022, Olomouc.

10 2022
Thank you all. However, some milestones are still to come!

The project team would like to thank all patients and medical staff involved in the ongoing research. We look forward to continued collaboration.

11 2022
Participation in the event Biological Research & Application 10/11/2022 at the Institute of Physiology of the CAS

Dr. Zielina presented the project and its partial outputs in the form of preliminary findings with a practical demonstration of the Cold River VR application with the help of Ing. Pohořelský.

11 2022
Presentation of the VR application Cold River at the TRIMEDJOB job fair

12 2022
OSF re-registration process started

The leader of the project added file VR and burns.pdf to OSF Storage with a title of the project Virtual Reality and Coping with Procedural Pain in Burn Patients

12 2022
Publication of Mandate contract No. 036/2022 – transfer of technology

In December (6/12/2022), Mandate Contract No. 036/2022 was published – ensuring factual and legal negotiations for FF UP in order to successfully apply the “Cold River” technology – VR application for reducing pain and anxiety during procedural pain in the form of transfer technology. This contract was published by the Palacký University in Olomouc with the contracting party Charles University Innovations Prague a.s. representing other legal entities participating in the creation and development of the VR application (more here https://smlouvy.gov.cz/smlouva/22620473)

12 2022
Dr. Zielina gave a popularization interview about the topic of the project on the Blueghost podcast

How does VR help in psychology? About digital design in medical science with Martin Zielina.

IN CZECH: https://www.blueghost.cz/clanek/update-jak-pomaha-vr-v-psychologii-o-digitalnim-designu-v-lekarske-vede-s-martinem-zielinou/

01 2023
Submission of interim report
02 2023
Data were collected from forty-five patients
03 2023
OSF Registration of project Virtual Reality and Coping with Procedural Pain in Burn Patients was APRROVED

Registration type: OSF Preregistration

Date registered: March 13, 2023

Associated project: osf.io/3gsrv

Internet Archive link: https://archive.org/details/osf-registrations-gmv79-v1

Category: Project

05 2023
Data collected from already sixty patients
06 2023
Popularization article in Metro.cz- Snow and peace instead of pain

The unpleasantly long and agonizing moments in the dressing rooms of burn centers are being made more pleasant for sixty patients with the help of virtual reality. How to help people with burn trauma manage the pain and anxiety of changing dressings in the dressing room? Read more HERE.

06–12 2023
Publication of project results
06 2023
Participation in the Congress Roma Pain Days, June 15.-17. 2023, Italy

Dr. Raudenská presented a lecture on Virtual Reality, Procedural Pain, and Anxiety in Burn Trauma at the Roma Pain Days 2023 Congress. More info HERE.

07 2023
Interview in HospitalIn.cz

The interview of Dr. Raudenská and Dr. Javůrková in HospitalIn.cz on the topic: Virtual Reality and Pain Treatment. More info HERE.

09 2023
Our team presented ongoing results at the EFIC Congress 2023, Pain in Europe XIII, 20-23.9. Budapest

The topic of the poster was: REDUCING ANXIETY AND PROCEDURAL PAIN IN BURN PATIENTS USING VIRTUAL REALITY

More about the EFIC Congress: https://europeanpainfederation.eu/efic2023/

09 2023
Participation in the 9th European Burn Congress and 23rd Annual Conference of the Society of Burn Medicine, 21-22 September 2023, Košice Slovak Republic

Conference paper title: The use of artificial intelligence at the Burns clinic of the Královské Vinohrady University Hospital in Prague and III. Medical faculty of Charles University in Prague

9 2023
Media publicity – they wrote about us
09 2023
Project team meeting and workshop 27.9. 2023 in FN KV

On 27 September 2023, the project team had its final meeting together with the interested parties and members of the implementation team. The workshop program from 13:00 included the following points: 1. Introduction of the project and its objectives (Dr. Šmahaj), 2. Presentation of the project results (Dr. Javůrková), 3. Presentation of the outputs (Dr. Raudenská), 4. Summary of the process and feedback (Dr. Zielina), 5. Discussion (Dr. Doležal). We thank all the participants for their participation and interesting discussion.

09 2023
Data collected from 67 patients
10 2023
Media Publicity – Journal Online / News from UP – Report

Virtual reality can be an aid in the treatment of burns.

Using 3D glasses with a specially developed app called Cold River, Czech experts tried to influence a group of selected burn patients to focus on something other than pain while dressing. Their efforts were successful and the results are more than promising. Patients who underwent this study subjectively experienced significantly less pain and anxiety, in some cases by as much as forty percent…..

More here: https://www.zurnal.upol.cz/nc/zprava/clanek/virtualni-realita-muze-byt-pomocnikem-pri-lecbe-popalenin/

10 2023
Participation in the form of a lecture at the prestigious congress of the Czech Society for Pain Management CLS JEP in Ostrava, October 19-21, 2023

10 2023
Reportage in the main events of Czech Television

The actual part of the TV report:

https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/1097181328-udalosti/223411000101025/cast/1007533/

11 2023
Czech Television Reportage – Science 24

The actual part of the TV report:

https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/11633975240-veda-24/223411058340030/cast/1009733/

 

12 2023
Completion of the project
12 2023

ACTIVE

Summary Research Report
01 2024
Preparation and finalisation of the final report for the Agency TAČR
More about the project