JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Despite psychological sequelae after Intensive Care Unit (ICU) treatment are considered quite intrusive, robustly effective interventions to treat or prevent these long-term sequelae are lacking. Recently it was demonstrated that intensive care unit-specific virtual reality (ICU-VR) is a feasible and acceptable intervention with potential mental health benefits. Its effect on mental health and ICU aftercare in Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) ICU survivors is however unknown.

Objective:

To explore the effects of ICU-VR on mental health and on the patients’ perceived quality of, satisfaction with, and rating of ICU aftercare in COVID-19 ICU survivors

Methods:

This was a multicenter, randomized controlled trial. Patients were randomized to either the ICU-VR (intervention) or control group. All patients were invited to the ICU post-COVID-19 follow-up clinic three months after hospital discharge, during which patients in the intervention group received ICU-VR. One and three months hereafter (six months after hospital discharge) mental health, quality of life, and perceived quality, satisfaction with, and rating of ICU aftercare were scored using questionnaires.

Results:

89 patients (median age: 58 years; 63 [70%] male) were included. The prevalence and severity of psychological distress was limited throughout follow-up, and no differences in psychological distress or quality of life were observed between groups. ICU-VR improved satisfaction with (median [IQR] score: ICU-VR, 9 out of 10 [8-10], vs. control, 7 out of 10 [7-9], p<0.001) and overall rating of ICU aftercare (9 of out 10 [8-10] vs. 8 out of 10 [7-9], p<0.01) compared to controls. ICU-VR added to the quality of ICU aftercare according to 81% of the patients and all patients would recommend ICU-VR to other ICU survivors.

Conclusions:

ICU-VR is a feasible and acceptable innovative method to improve satisfaction with and rating of ICU aftercare and add to its perceived quality. We observed a low prevalence of psychological distress after COVID-19 ICU treatment and ICU-VR did not improve psychological recovery or quality of life. Future research is needed to confirm our results in other critical illness survivors and potentially facilitate ICU-VR’s widespread availability and application during follow-up. Clinical Trial: This trial was registered in the Dutch trial register (identifier: NL8835, registration date: August 14, 2020).