Can pre-visit exposure to virtual tours of healthcare facilities help reduce child and parent anxiety during outpatient surgical procedures?

Aim: The study aims to evaluate the impact of exposure to a highly realistic virtual facility tour prior to the on-site visit on patients and their parent/care partner's self-reported anxiety and physiological measures on the day of the procedure.

Background: Preoperative anxiety impacts pediatric surgical outcomes; therefore, it is important for healthcare providers to address and manage preoperative anxiety in pediatric patients to promote better outcomes and overall wellbeing. Providing patients with a preview of the care setting before the actual procedure can be highly beneficial in mitigating preoperative anxiety.

Methodology: In this pilot randomized experimental study, sixteen patient-care partner dyads scheduled to undergo a gastrointestinal procedure either received a virtual tour identical to the places experienced on the day of the procedure (experimental group) or received no virtual tour (control group). Self-reported measures of anxiety were collected from participants before and on the day of the procedure. Physiological measures of heart rate variability and skin conductance were collected on the day of the procedure from both groups.

Results: There were no significant differences between the self-reported and physiological measures of anxiety between the child groups. However, parents in the control group reported lower levels of anxiety and demonstrated lower levels of stress based on their physiological measures.

Conclusion: Exposure to virtual facility tours days before the surgery was not helpful in positively impacting the psychological measures related to preoperative anxiety levels for the participants.