Introduction: Use of virtual reality (VR) in healthcare has expanded in recent years. The challenges faced by patients with prolonged COVID-19-related hospitalizations - social isolation, disability, neurologic sequelae, adjustment-related anxiety, depression, and stress - may be mitigated by the novel use of VR as one modality of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan. This descriptive study aimed to understand patient satisfaction and perceived benefit of virtual reality on a COVID-19 recovery unit, as well as the logistical and operational feasibility of providing VR content for patients and staff.
Materials And Methods: During the COVID-19 surge in New York City in 2020, the COVID-19 Recovery Unit (CRU) of a large academic hospital invited patients and staff to participate in VR sessions with three categories of experience: (1) Guided meditation, (2) Exploration of natural environments, (3) Cognitive stimulation games. Patients and staff were surveyed about satisfaction and perceived benefit.
Results: 13 patients and 11 staff were surveyed, with median patient satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10, with ten representing "extremely satisfied," and median staff satisfaction scores of 10. 13/13 patients answered "yes" to recommending the therapy to others, and 12/13 answered "yes" to perceived enhancement of their treatment. 11/11 staff answered "yes" to recommending the therapy to others, and 11/11 answered "yes" to perceived enhancement of their wellbeing.
Discussion: A VR program implemented on a COVID-19 rehabilitation unit for patients and healthcare providers was rated as highly satisfactory with perceived benefit by survey respondents. Participants commented that the use of VR was useful in coping with isolation and loneliness, and could be implemented within the context of clinical care for COVID-19 patients as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation model. The use of VR was also logistically and operationally feasible on the CRU. Future work to compare benefits of VR to standard neuropsychological rehabilitation is needed.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2021.04.008 | DOI Listing |
J Environ Manage
January 2025
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, 960 College Station Rd., Athens, GA, 30605, USA. Electronic address:
Riparian functioning condition refers to a rating and description of the current ecological status of a reach of a riparian ecosystem in consideration of its potential hydrology, vegetation, and geomorphology. Reach rating options are Proper Functioning Condition (PFC), Functional-At-Risk (FAR), Non-Functional, and apparent or monitored trends. We assessed the functioning condition of flowing riverbank areas of Back Creek located in Virginia (USA) following a PFC protocol developed by the U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Health Promot
January 2025
College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
Purpose: Artificially Intelligent (AI) chatbots have the potential to produce information to support shared prostate cancer (PrCA) decision-making. Therefore, our purpose was to evaluate and compare the accuracy, completeness, readability, and credibility of responses from standard and advanced versions of popular chatbots: ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJCO Oncol Pract
January 2025
Mayo Clinic, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Oncology, Rochester, MN.
Purpose: Over 50% of households in the United States have at least one musician-many musicians are also breast cancer survivors. This group has not been well studied, and given the level of fine sensory-motor skill required for musicianship, we hypothesized that musicians experience unique manifestations of breast cancer treatment toxicities.
Methods: A nine-item Musical Toxicity Questionnaire (MTQ) was distributed to patients who had consented to participate in the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Registry.
J Med Ethics
January 2025
Rehabilitation Medicine, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, UK
When the clinician and patient are unable to reconcile differences over treatment, does this mean the latter lacks capacity to decide in such matters? Wellesley analyse the legal judgements in the case of Ms Sudiksha Thirumalesh where, on the particulars, the Court of Protection answered yes, only for the Court of Appeal to disagree. The authors highlight concerns about using isolated false belief as an indicator of incapacity and advise that such matters may be better resolved by greater discussion of the benefits and burdens of treatment, alongside consideration of their costs. Here, I suggest that a disability perspective is also helpful to such cases, recognising that this was a disagreement from which the patient couldn't walk away.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmerg Med Int
January 2025
Emergency Medicine Department, National Guard Health Affairs, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Emergency medicine practitioners encounter significant challenges related to patients who leave emergency departments (EDs) without being seen (LWBS) in the ED. We aimed to assess the characteristics, reasons, and rate of patients who left without being seen in the tertiary teaching hospital ED of King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A qualitative prospective observational study was conducted from January 4, 2023, to May 17, 2023, among patients who left the ED without being seen in the King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University Medical City, a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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