Hospitals in Vernon deployed virtual reality headsets on Sunday to manage patient anxiety during surgical and medical procedures.
Medical teams at the hospital in Vernon, part of the Centre Hospitalier Eure-Seine, began using the immersive technology to reduce reliance on chemical sedatives. The initiative aims to ease the stressful steps of hospitalization for patients facing phobias or high anxiety before entering the operating room.
Using headsets for anesthetic hypnosis does not change the core medical care, but it lets clinicians decrease sedation levels, according to Jean-Baptiste Hardy, an anesthetist at the facility.
Medical staff use the immersive headsets across several departments, including the emergency room and the maternity ward, beyond traditional surgical settings. Lucille Vasse, a nurse anesthetist at the hospital, said that the equipment requires very little setup time and suits patients who show signs of acute stress. Patients put on a headset and choose an interactive visual environment, such as a mountain range or an ocean scene. Clinicians monitor what the patient sees in real time using a connected tablet interface.
“The patient is in his own bubble,” Hardy told Actu, describing the deployment of the devices. “For children it’s great. When we tell them: close your eyes, you are in a football stadium and you are going to score a goal, it’s great.”
The regional hospital network has utilized hypnosis methods for a decade to calm nervous patients. “Ten years ago, people laughed and told us: no, you’re not going to make a Messmer out of me,” Hardy told Actu. “Today, hypnosis is more anchored, people are aware that it is no longer science fiction.”
The virtual reality equipment costs 7,000 euros. Funding for the technology came from the local Vernon chapter of the Lions Club, which purchased and donated the units to the facility through the Isambard Foundation.
“We are happy to be able to deliver this device which helps relieve patients and their families,” Philippe Kieffer, president of the Lions Club of Vernon, told Actu.
Kieffer said that the national service organization counts 22,000 volunteers across France who raise 20 million euros annually through 5,000 manifestations.
Management at the public healthcare provider emphasizes that investing in new medical technology remains essential despite competition from larger medical centers in nearby Rouen and Paris.
Jérôme Rifflet, general director of CH Eure-Seine, said that local patients deserve the same technological advancements and recovery outcomes as those treated in major metropolitan health hubs.