A new trial in a South Sydney hospital is investigating how technology can be used to help ease the anxiety of dementia patients in hospital waiting rooms.
Patients with dementia are participating in a new study at St George Hospital in Kogarah that investigates how virtual reality (VR) headsets can help minimise distress during prolonged hospital wait times.
The headsets, supplied by VR aged care therapy company NeuronsVR, are designed to help dementia patients who may be feeling overstimulated or uneasy in environments like hospital waiting rooms without the use of medical treatments.
Dr Amy Montgomery is leading the trial at St George Hospital and says that VR experiences will be “another tool in the toolkit” for nurses aiming to provide relief for dementia patients experiencing heightened emotional responses.
“Hospital environments are not nice regardless if you have a healthy functioning brain,” she said.
“They’re very loud, they’re very bright. You don’t have a lot of control in these environments.”
Dr Montgomery described how VR simulations are tailored to the patient’s individual preferences to relieve the dopamine and serotonin chemicals in the brain.
“Experiences are personalised to the person with dementia,” she said.
“The whole premise behind doing this … is to kind of resettle the brain when it’s in that haywire level of distress.”
At St George, the trial involves understanding the patients’ experiences to provide the most calming imagery for them.
Videos are approximately 10 minutes long and can depict a holiday the patient has taken, the country they grew up in or a peaceful environment they can respond to.
“We pick an experience that’s very personalised to them. So it’s not just a random thing that we find,” Dr Montgomery said.
Shane Roulston, the founding director of NeuronsVR, says he aims to fulfil “an unmet need for someone with dementia” and find alternatives to psychotropic therapy.
Mr Roulston said the imagery from the VR “relaxes neuron pathways in the brain” to provide “next-level dementia care” and a more comfortable experience for the patient.
“This is not about a VR headset,” he said. “It’s just a method of delivery.”
The new collaboration between NeuronsVR and St George Hospital isn’t the first instance of technology being used to relax dementia patients, but it is the first randomised trial of VR therapy for people with dementia in a hospital setting.
iPods with music have also been used in the past, but Dr Montgomery advocates that each patient is different and requires a personalised approach to their care.
“I’m really hoping that we can actually show that this works,” she said.
“(Patients) are uniquely their own person, and they’re going to have different likes and dislikes and different things that they’re going to need to feel less distressed during their hospital admission.”
“People with dementia are still humans.”
