Virtual Reality-Guided Meditation for Chronic Pain in Patients With Cancer: Exploratory Analysis of Electroencephalograph Activity.

Background: Mindfulness-based stress reduction has demonstrated some efficacy for chronic pain management. More recently, virtual reality (VR)-guided meditation has been used to assist mindfulness-based stress reduction. Although studies have also found electroencephalograph (EEG) changes in the brain during mindfulness meditation practices, such changes have not been demonstrated during VR-guided meditation.

Immersive virtual reality health games: a narrative review of game design.

Background: High quality head-mounted display based virtual reality (HMD-VR) has become widely available, spurring greater development of HMD-VR health games. As a behavior change approach, these applications use HMD-VR and game-based formats to support long-term engagement with therapeutic interventions. While the bulk of research to date has primarily focused on the therapeutic efficacy of particular HMD-VR health games, how developers and researchers incorporate best-practices in game design to achieve engaging experiences remains underexplored.

Nursing Care Delivery Redesign: Using the Right Data to Make the Right Decisions.

Background: In British Columbia, the Nursing Policy Secretariat of the Ministry of Health recently issued a series of priority nursing recommendations, including team-based care delivery models.

Aim: This paper will describe the data collection and analysis phase of a quality improvement initiative focused on care delivery redesign within three healthcare organizations. The focus of the care delivery redesign was a transition from total nursing care to team-based nursing care.

Patients perceptions of virtual reality therapy in the management of chronic cancer pain.

The management of chronic cancer pain remains challenging and complex, with the process often involving a variety of pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Recent studies have shown virtual reality (VR) therapy to be successful in the management of acute pain. However, it remains unclear whether VR-based applications are effective as an adjunctive therapy for cancer patients with chronic pain.

Virtual Reality Clinical Research: Promises and Challenges.

Background: Virtual reality (VR) therapy has been explored as a novel therapeutic approach for numerous health applications, in which three-dimensional virtual environments can be explored in real time. Studies have found positive outcomes for patients using VR for clinical conditions such as anxiety disorders, addictions, phobias, posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, stroke rehabilitation, and for pain management.

Objective: This work aims to highlight key issues in the implementation of clinical research for VR technologies.

Virtual Reality as an Adjunct Home Therapy in Chronic Pain Management: An Exploratory Study.

Background: Virtual reality (VR) therapy has been successfully used as an adjunct therapy for the management of acute pain in adults and children, and evidence of potential efficacy in other health applications is growing. However, minimal research exists on the value of VR as an intervention for chronic pain.

Objective: This case series examined the value of VR to be used as an adjunctive therapy for chronic pain patients in their own homes.

'What else can I do?': Insights from atrial fibrillation patient communication online.

Background: Many patients with atrial fibrillation experience uncertainty and psychological distress. Internet support groups for atrial fibrillation have yet to be studied.

Aim: To determine the content and dialogue on an online message board for atrial fibrillation with the purpose of elucidating information and support needs from patient perspectives.

Normalization of Neglect: A Grounded Theory of RNs' Experiences as Family Caregivers of Hospitalized Seniors.

Often older people, while maintaining a level of independence, rely on family members to provide care and assistance. Caregivers who are also registered nurses (RNs) may provide a different perspective around the experience when their older relative is admitted to acute care. The aim of our research was to investigate and develop theory regarding nursing care provision as described by RNs, who were family caregivers to older adults, when that older adult was admitted to acute care.

Acute Neuropathic Pain Assessment in Burn Injured Patients: A Retrospective Review.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to measure the prevalence of acute neuropathic pain in patients with acute burn injuries and the demographic and clinical characteristics of neuropathic pain in this population. We also evaluated the proportion of patients who received twice-daily evaluation of nurses' documentation of neuropathic pain following introduction of a validated neuropathic pain assessment tool embedded within the pain chart.

Design: Retrospective, descriptive study.

Neuropathic pain in people with cancer (part 2): pharmacological and non-pharmacological management.

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the management of neuropathic pain associated with cancer and to provide helpful clinical advice for nurses working with patients who may have neuropathic pain. While cancer pain is a mixed-mechanism pain, this article will focus only on neuropathic pain management. The impact of neuropathic pain on patients' quality of life is great and while many patients recover from their cancer, a significant number continue to suffer from a neuropathic pain syndrome.

Neuropathic pain in people with cancer (part 1): incidence, manifestation, and assessment.

Many patients with cancer are at risk of experiencing neuropathic pain. This type of pain is complex and therefore requires complex assessment with a focus on impact on quality-of-life issues such as sleep and depression. Nurses are well placed to identify patients with possible signs and symptoms of neuropathic pain and so it is important for nurses to understand neuropathic pain and its manifestation, impact on quality of life, and management.

A rapid evidence assessment of immersive virtual reality as an adjunct therapy in acute pain management in clinical practice.

Objectives: Immersive virtual reality (IVR) therapy has been explored as an adjunct therapy for the management of acute pain among children and adults for several conditions. Therapeutic approaches have traditionally involved medication and physiotherapy but such approaches are limited over time by their cost and side effects. This review seeks to critically evaluate the evidence for and against IVR as an adjunctive therapy for acute clinical pain applications.

Nurse screening for neuropathic pain in postoperative patients.

This study was designed to audit nurse assessment and documentation for neuropathic pain in postoperative patients. The audit focused on recorded signs of neuropathic pain in the immediate postoperative period. Nurses were educated on how to screen patients for neuropathic signs using the validated and reliable 7-item DN4.

The journey to chronic pain: a grounded theory of older adults' experiences of pain associated with leg ulceration.

This study aimed to develop a grounded theory to describe and explain the experience of pain and its impact, as reported by the individuals who had pain associated with chronic leg ulceration. The Strauss and Corbin grounded theory approach was used. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 11 people aged ≥ 65 years from Leeds in the north of England.

A meta-synthesis of research on leg ulceration and neuropathic pain component and sequelae.

Leg ulceration represents a substantial health problem, and pain is likely to be an associated symptom. The aim of this meta-synthesis was to undertake a systematic review of qualitative studies investigating the experience of chronic painful leg ulceration. This study undertook the meta-synthesis approach described by Sandelowski and Barroso (2003), which is a synthesis and re-interpretation of the findings from several qualitative studies.

Assessment of neuropathic pain in the community.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with evidence basedclinical guidance regarding assessing neuropathic pain. Persistent pain is a huge burden on health-care provision and the prevalence of persistent neuropathic pain is likely to increase owing to the ageing population. The provision of appropriate relieving interventions depends on accurate assessment.

The evidence on perceptions of pain in older people.

There have been a considerable number of studies looking at the evidence on how older people experience pain. Some clinicians believe that older people feel less pain than younger people and older people themselves can assume that ageing is associated with both a loss of ability to perceive pain and an increase in non-specific pain-related suffering. This can lead to inadequate pain management for older people.

A regional pain management audit.

An audit was carried out in the Northern and Yorkshire region to assess postoperative pain management outcomes. Pain scores were measured in the recovery room at 24 hours and at seven days postoperatively, at rest and on movement. A verbal numerical rating score (VNRS) tool was used.