VR-READY

Co-designing an accessible and inclusive VR mediated intervention to improve in-patient experiences as an aid to recovery in people admitted to critical care.

VR-READY: ViRtual REality to AiD recoverY post-ICU

People admitted to intensive care (ICU) often experience ongoing health problems once they leave and have returned home. This is described as Post Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) and can include problems with memory and thinking, physical impairments and reduced psychological wellbeing. This can result in a reduced quality of life, which also affects family members and friends. Although improvements have been made in caring for people within ICU, there is no standard approach to care after leaving ICU to support patients' recovery. A lack of staff and resources have also been a barrier to standard post -ICU care. With the recent increase in admissions to ICU, there is an urgent need to find ways of supporting the recovery of people with PICS that is readily available to patients.

VR has already been shown to be useful in helping relaxation and in combatting pain and anxiety. We think that VR might help support people recovering from PICS. In order to do this, we are undertaking a three-stage program of research.

In Phase 1, to understand what the recovery journey looks like, we conducted a series of focus groups with ICU survivors, their family members and healthcare professionals involved in the care and rehabilitation of ICU patients. In these sessions, we explored what the patient recovery journey looks like and what the critical parts of recovery are. We also worked with these groups to determine, in terms of recovery, what is important to measure (known as outcomes) to find out whether or not this intervention works.

We are currently at Phase 2, where we have used the data from the focus groups to alter an existing VR set-up (DR.VR), in conjunction with our collaborators at Rescape Health, to specifically support the recovery of ICU patients, working with previous ICU patients and their family members to inform the design. We have also asked this group what features need to be included when testing the intervention and use this input to design the next stage of the project.

In Phase 3, we plan to determine feasibility and acceptability of the developed intervention within a critical care setting. Up to 20 participants will be recruited to receive the intervention for 2 weeks whilst they are in hospital.

At the end of the study, we will share the results with all of the study participants and more widely through appropriate web pages, social media and organisations concerned with the care of ICU patients.