Researchers: using AR equipment to introduce surgical items can reduce patients' fear and anxiety.

CTOnews.com, August 18 (Xinhua) A number of medical studies have shown that patients wearing VR / AR devices can temporarily shelve real stress in virtual space. A few days ago, medical staff at the University of Miami conducted a study on this, testing "how doctors use virtual reality (AR) technology in preoperative care to reduce patients' surgical stress." The study is in the online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Network Open).

The team studied 95 patients with an average age of 38 who were scheduled for elective orthopedic surgery. One control group received a standard "surgical instruction kit" and the other received both the material and the three-minute experience described by the chief of surgery through AR.

▲ source-related survey reported that both groups received four anxiety surveys during surgery (twice before surgery and twice after surgery), and people in the AR group showed a decrease in stress before surgery. Not only that, after a sharp drop in anxiety levels in the first survey, the second set of data showed that anxiety levels remained the same, indicating that the impact of "preoperative preparation" was lasting.

The researchers believe that this experience allows patients to wear helmets, "combining reality with the special functions of the hospital and surgery", aimed at eliminating the "fear of the unknown" during surgery, and that this "AR experience" is more interactive than traditional paper materials. In other words, "the principle of surgery demonstrated by AR is more comprehensive and easier to make patients feel safe at the psychological level, thus reducing their anxiety."