Patient’s satisfaction, acceptability, and feasibility of virtual reality for pain and anxiety management during bone marrow biopsy

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to access the feasibility of using Virtual Reality during bone marrow biopsy, as well as patient-reported acceptability and satisfaction in reducing pain and anxiety for patients with hematologic malignancies. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In this is pilot study, fifteen patients were required from hematological department of Hedi Chaker university hospital, Tunisia. Only descriptive statistical analyses were performed. The primary outcomes were technique's feasibility, participants' acceptability and satisfaction through passive health care observation during intervention and by participant's comments about their experience.The secondary outcomes were anxiety assessed through the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and measured before and after the procedure and procedural pain through the Numerical Pain Rating Scale. RESULTS: Our findings showed a mean anxiety's score before procedure was 50 (IQR = 32, range: 28-76) and after procedure 20 (IQR = 1, range: 20- 39). Mean procedural pain score was 4 (IQR = 3, range: 0-6). 66.7% were no pain reaction. All participants were satisfied with the intervention. CONCLUSION: This study supports patients' satisfaction, acceptability, and the feasibility of virtual reality as a non-pharmacological intervention for managing pain and anxiety during bone marrow biopsy. While initial findings are promising, further large-scale studies required to validate these results and explore clinical applications of virtual reality.