Virtual Reality Goggle Utilization for Venipuncture Distraction

Optimizing the Patient Experience: Virtual Reality Goggle Utilization for Venipuncture Distraction - Can we Decrease Anxiety and Pain During This Common Procedure?

This is a randomized non-blinded trial evaluating the effect of virtual reality goggles on perceived pain and anxiety scores during venipuncture on hospitalized children ages 5-21. We will randomized patients to either standard of care (including Lidocaine 2.5%/Prilocaine 2.5% cream as a topical anesthetic 60-240 minutes prior to venipuncture) or standard of care plus virtual reality goggles.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pain, Procedural
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Virtual Reality Goggles

Detailed Description

Study personnel will identify patients on CHAM 6 and CHAM 8 scheduled for lab draw prior to child life rounds and subsequently ask the health care providers if there are any patients that are not developmentally or physically appropriate to use the VR equipment. They will then screen and consent the patients approximately 1 hour prior to the Child Life rounds (see appendix A & B). Patients aged 12-17 years old who are able to read the form will be asked to fill out an assent form (see appendix C) and patients aged 5-12 years old and those unable to read the form will be read the assent form to ensure verbal assent. Those patients who consent to the study will be randomized to a VR arm and non VR arm using computer generated randomization. Lidocaine 2.5%/Prilocaine 2.5% cream will be placed on all patients that have consented to the study by the patient's nurse if they don't already have it applied. After consent and assurance of topical anesthetic application, a brief demographic questionnaire (see appendix D) will also be completed. For efficiency and feasibility, two study personnel will screen and consent families, assist with VR set up and removal, and conduct post procedure assessment.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 126
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • The Bronx, New York, United States, 10467
      • Montefiore Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 1 year to 17 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

patients aged 5-21 years old admitted to the 6th floor of the inpatient unit who are scheduled for a venipuncture during morning phlebotomy rounds

Exclusion Criteria:

Patients developmentally or physically not appropriate to use the VR equipment as determined by their parent, guardian or healthcare provider, if there is discomfort related to wearing the goggles (for example: recent neurosurgery, migraines, hardware on head), patient have photosensitive seizures or infectious concern such as scabies, lice, COVID-19 that can't reliably be disinfected.

Patient (>18) or Parent or guardian (for patient < 18) that does not speak English, Spanish or Arabic will be excluded.

If patient refuses Lidocaine 2.5%/Prilocaine 2.5% cream use they will also be excluded from the study.

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: VR goggle with venipuncture; Virtual reality goggles SamsungGearVR supplied by KindVR will be placed on patients at least 2 min prior to venipuncture. All patients will also receive Lidocaine 2.5%/Prilocaine 2.5% cream at least 60 min prior to venipuncture.	Device: Virtual Reality Goggles; Virtual reality goggles will placed at least 2 min prior to venipuncture to deteremine if it mitigates perceived anxiety or perceived pain scores.
No Intervention: no VR goggle with venipuncture; Patients will receive Lidocaine 2.5%/Prilocaine 2.5% cream at least 60 min prior to venipuncture but NO virtual reality goggles.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Perceived Pain Scale	Change in perceived pain from pre-venipuncture to post-venipuncture (during the blood draw) will be assessed using the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating scale. Children, or parents on behalf of children, will be asked to communicate the severity of the pain the child is experiencing using the FACES scale which contains a series of 6 different facial expressions correlated to numbers (i.e., 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) ranging from a happy face at "0" indicating "no hurt" to a crying face at "10" indicating "hurts worst." Higher scale scores signify worse pain severity. Change in group mean FACES scale scores will be summarized by study arm and subsequently analyzed using Wilcoxon signed rank test for paired data.	Approximately 1 hour prior to venipuncture and again immediately after venipuncture

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Anxiety Scores	Change in anxiety from pre-venipuncture to post-venipuncture (during the blood draw) will be assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Children, or parents on behalf of children, will be asked to estimate the level of anxiety the child is having by marking their estimate on a visual 0-to-100 millimeter (mm) line ranging from "0" (=Not at all Anxious) to "100" (=Extremely Anxious). The line increases by increments of "1" from left to right. A score of ≥ 30mm is considered anxious. Change in anxiety scores will be summarized by study arm using basic descriptive statistics and subsequently analyzed using Wilcoxon signed rank test for paired data.	Approximately 1 hour prior to venipuncture and again immediately after venipuncture
Change in Heart Rate	Change in HR from pre-venipuncture to post-venipuncture will be evaluated for those patients on a cardiac monitor. Increased heart rate can be associated with increases in pain and anxiety. Group mean changes in heart will be summarized by study arm and subsequently analyzed using Wilcoxon signed rank test for paired data.	Approximately 1 hour prior to venipuncture and again immediate after venipuncture
Change in Level of simulator sickness	Change in Level of simulator sickness from pre-venipuncture (pre-placement of Virtual Reality goggles) to post-venipuncture (removal of VR goggles) will be assessed using a Simulator Sickness Questionnaire. The survey consists for 4 questions related to the possible side effects of using the VR goggles. Children, or parents on behalf of children, will be asked to respond to the following 4 questions on a scale ranging from 1-10: Does your head hurt? Do your eyes hurt? Do you have an upset stomach? Do you feel dizzy? Total scores will be summed for an overall possible scoring range of 4-40 with higher scores indicating worse sickness symptoms. Change in simulator sickness scores will be summarized by study arm.	Approximately 1 hour prior to venipuncture and again immediately after venipuncture
Pre-venipuncture anxiety scores in participants with prior hospitalizations or prior medical problems.	Level of pre venipuncture anxiety scores in participants with prior hospitalizations or prior medical problems will be evaluated. Anxiety scores will be collected using the VAS tool. Children, or parents on behalf of children, will be asked to estimate the level of anxiety the child is having by marking their estimate on a visual 0-to-100mm line ranging from "0" (=Not at all Anxious) to "100" (=Extremely Anxious). The line increases by increments of "1" from left to right. A score of ≥ 30mm is considered anxious. Prior hospitalization data and prior medical problem information will be extracted via chart review. Anxiety scores will be summarized by study arm using basic descriptive statistics. An independent t test will be used to asses whether anxiety scores are normally distributed or Mann U test if not normally distributed.	Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Montefiore Medical Center
• Collaborators: KindVR
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Courtney A McNamara, MD, Montefiore Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Gold JI, SooHoo M, Laikin AM, Lane AS, Klein MJ. Effect of an Immersive Virtual Reality Intervention on Pain and Anxiety Associated With Peripheral Intravenous Catheter Placement in the Pediatric Setting: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(8):e2122569. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.22569

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 16, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 20, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): October 20, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 16, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 20, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): July 21, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 2, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 26, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: virtual reality
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Pain, Procedural
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2020-11200

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: Yes