Patient Experience, Therapeutics and Empathy: Deployment of Virtual

Reality in the Healthcare Setting

Julie Reisetter, MS, RN

VP, Innovation UCHealth

University of Colorado Health System

Our missionWe improve lives.

In big ways through learning, healing, and discovery.

In small, personal ways through human connection.

But in all ways, we improve lives.

Our visionFrom health care to health.

Our valuesPatients first

Integrity

Excellence

UCHealth CARE Innovation Center

• Established in 2016

• Bringing together experts in clinical

care delivery, informatics, analytics and

implementation science to partner with

industry to create innovative solutions

to modern healthcare challenges

• Hub for developing, testing, and

implementing healthcare innovations

• Springboard for launching process

improvements and products, and

bringing them to market in order to

improve healthcare delivery

Dr. Richard Zane

Chief Innovation Officer

Co-Founder, CARE

Innovation Center

Dr. Jennifer Wiler

Executive Director &

Co-Founder, CARE

Innovation Center

Julie Reisetter, MS, RN

VP, Innovation

v

What Makes UCHealth Attractive for Partnerships?

Denver Ranked #1

Best Place to Live

Colorado Digital

Health Boom

World Class Living Laboratory

Product

development and

testing “shoulder

to shoulder” with

clinicians

Rapid adoption

Wayfinding

Condition-specific contentPatient-provided data

EHR embedded pathwaysSimplifying the external

patient story

Data science embedded in

IT systemsRemote surveillance

Virtual CareOnline Scheduling

High Priority Focus Areas

Wearable devices

Innovation Portfolio2% 3%

3%

92%

Vetting Special Projects Contract Dismissed

Only the most promising technologies,

developed by motivated teams committed

to our vision of health innovation, make it

through our pipeline.

That means saying no – a lot…

Over 250 local, national and international

companies have sought partnerships with

UCHealth

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A Future So Bright, You Gotta Wear…

• Current technologies and concepts are founded on more than 30 years of

research and development

• Recent changes in cost and access make VR affordable

• After years of validation and use by early adopters - VR technology is poised

to move to the mainstream

Virtual Reality Technology For Medicine

Virtual Reality at UCHealth

Three focus areas

• Patient experience

• Experience validation in outpatient infusion center

• Incorporate UCHealth content

• Business plan for scale across settings

• Therapeutics

• Understand impact of VR interventions to improve mobility & decrease opioid use

• Empathy/Care-giver support/Care-giver burnout

Research Objectives

The objectives were as follows:

• Investigate patient perceptions and affinity toward virtual reality

offerings

• Evaluate effectiveness of virtual reality interaction during patient

care in reducing discomfort

• Understanding what programs/modules of virtual reality work best

for the UCHealth patient care environment

• Explore other virtual reality offerings that would be of value to

patients

Current list of distractions include:

Methodology

• Qualitative interviews conducted in outpatient infusion in our three major regions: Colorado Springs, Denver, and Fort Collins

• Goal: 60 patients, 20 staff members and 15 caregivers

• Process:

• Pre-demonstration questions (background, virtual reality familiarity, treatment, experience).

• 2-3 minute demonstration of virtual reality

• Post-demonstration questions (evaluation, benefits, challenges, future use)

• To reduce the number of variables, patients were given a choice to see 1 of 2

program offerings:

• Vincent Van Gogh - A Starry Night

• Angel Falls*

*Towards the end of the research “Angel Falls” removed as an offering and replaced with “The Lantern Festival” or “Fly Over of Mount

Everest” (4 patient interviews and 5 caregiver interviews)

Themes based on interviews

• It gave patients something to look forward to

• It created an atmosphere, where the concept of time disappears

• It was a true distraction from their environment. But it was more, it was an

escape

• Some patients reported that virtual reality provided a means to escape from

their illness, even if it was a brief moment

• Some patients reported it to be beneficial in altering mood and reducing anxiety.

• However, virtual reality isn’t for everyone…a few individuals wanted to be aware

of their care team and their surroundings

Insights…

You get something cool to go

back and say ‘hey look what I did

when I had chemo today’ instead

of just ‘I had chemo today’.Male, 45 – Denver

Don’t have to watch the

clock and have

perception of time.

Male, 64

Sometimes you have to

separate yourself from cancer.

You don’t want to hear it every

day, you just want to live your

life. This takes you away. For a

few seconds you have relief –

you can be somewhere else.

I’m on cloud nine. You

took me back to my

childhood days.Male, 65+

I like to watch - I’m curious and

want to be aware of the needles.

My dad jokes and calls me a

‘professional patient’.

Female, 34

It’s amazing. The beauty and depth

gives patients perspective – there’s

something bigger than what they are

experiencing right now. This is just a

hurdle – there’s a bigger picture. It

provides a sense of hope.

RN

Female, 45

The positivity and support for virtual reality implementation was

overwhelming

What you’re doing instills confidence for me – it makes you feel like the

hospital is on the pulse of new and innovative things, which is great. They care

about patients and their experience. Female, Caregiver – Denver

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Can VR live up to its hype as “The ultimate empathy machine?”

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• Clinical empathy

• Gender/race blind hiring practices

• Simulated patient interactions

• Military pre-deployment cultural immersion

• Diversity / harassment / assault training

• Mental illness simulation experiences

Professional Training

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• Lack of evidence-based, user-informed content

• How do you get people who need it to see it?

• VR still not adopted widely

• Logistical concerns

• Validation and evaluation

• VR just for the sake of it

• VR alone probably won’t do much

• Still learning why VR works

• Cost

Real World Implementation Challenges

“Never innovate to compete, innovate to change the rules of the game.”

David O. Adeife