AWARD YEAR
2021
CATEGORY
Body
GOALS
Good Health & Well-being, Reduced Inequality, Navigate Post-Factual Society, Trust, Tolerance & Empathy
KEYWORDS
pain management, Virtual reality , Burns, Clinical, healthcare
COUNTRY
Australia
DESIGNED BY
Alex Eviston
WEBSITE
https://industrial.qutdesignfestival.com.au/projects/closing-the-gate-on-pain/?fbclid=IwAR2YBP9JxJy_V9fa1meEpH-1egvkWDw1o4igCO7zxV9LEqhTM-h_W8YKqvk
Viaso- Clinical VR for Pain Management
Shift the paradigm of pain management away from opioid-based methods to a more sustainable option.
Thermal burns are traumatic and often referred to as the most uncomfortable of all injuries for patients. They require repeat treatments and long-term therapy which causes significant and ongoing distress. The social pressures to step away from opioid-based pain management due to an epidemic of prescription opioid misuse combined with other undesirable side effects highlight the need to find another solution. What if there was a way to use distraction to safely manage pain during these burns treatments?
Pain as a result of severe burns injury is often sub-optimally managed when treated with medication alone. Immersive Virtual Reality presents an exciting application as a nonpharmacological treatment as it provides a platform to integrate multiple sensory elements to increase the sense of ‘immersion’ for users and distract from their pain.
Unfortunately, despite the growing body of research into VR for pain management, there is not a product that can safely meet patient needs.