[Multimodal distraction to relieve pain in children undergoing acute medical procedures].

Objective: Non-pharmacological approaches to pain management have been used by therapists for decades to reduce the anxiety and pain experienced by children during burn care procedures. With a greater understanding of pain and the principles behind what causes a child to be distracted, combined with access to state of the art technology, we have developed an easy to use, hand held multimodal distraction device (MMD). MMD is an interactive device that prepares the child for a procedure and uses developmentally appropriate distraction stories and games during the procedures to alleviate anxiety and pain.

Multi-modal distraction. Using technology to combat pain in young children with burn injuries.

Background: The use of non-pharmacological pain management remains adhoc within acute paediatric burns pain management protocols despite ongoing acknowledgement of its role. Advancements in adult based pain services including the integration of virtual reality has been adapted to meet the needs of children in pain, as exemplified by the development of multi-modal distraction (MMD). This easy to use, hand held interactive device uses customized programs designed to inform the child about the procedure he/she is about to experience and to distract the child during dressing changes.

The emergence of multi-modal distraction as a paediatric pain management tool.

The emergence of Multi Modal Distraction (MMD) has occurred following appraisal of the developmental and clinical concerns surrounding Virtual Reality's (VR) applicability to pediatric pain management. MMD was developed to expand current distraction tools and technology available for pain management in the pediatric population. This paper will examine how the challenges faced by VR have motivated the collaborative design and development process of MMD.

The efficacy of an augmented virtual reality system to alleviate pain in children undergoing burns dressing changes: a randomised controlled trial.

In children, the pain and anxiety associated with acute burn dressing changes can be severe, with drug treatment alone frequently proving to be inadequate. Virtual reality (VR) systems have been successfully trialled in limited numbers of adult and paediatric burn patients. Augmented reality (AR) differs from VR in that it overlays virtual images onto the physical world, instead of creating a complete virtual world.