Impact of 3-D Virtual Reality Visualization on Patient Education, Engagement, and Satisfaction in Pre-surgical Consultation

Author(s): Matthew Z Sun MD, Sophie M Peeters MD, Anthony C Wang MD

Background
Effective physician-patient communication is a key component of the therapeutic relationship. Recently, virtual reality has emerged as a novel communications tool in healthcare.

Objective
To evaluate the impact of the Surgical Theater 360-degree virtual reality (360°VR) visualization platform on patient education, engagement, and satisfaction in pre-surgical consultations.

Methods
Forty-seven consecutive patients were prospectively surveyed for their pre-surgical consultation experience that incorporated 360°VR renderings created from patient-specific cross-sectional imaging. Patients anonymously completed an online questionnaire that used a 5-point Likert scale or a 10-point value scale (1 = “no value” to 10 = “highly valuable”) regarding their 360°VR and prior consultations. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to compare responses for prior versus 360°VR consultations.

Results
More than 90% of the patients gave the highest possible rating regarding physician communication and overall satisfaction during the 360°VR consultation. Patients’ responses regarding how well the neurosurgeon explained their medical condition to them, as well as how satisfied they were with their consultation, were significantly more positive for the 360°VR consultation than for previous consultations (p < 0.001). More than 90% of the patients agreed that 360°VR helped improve their understanding of their condition, their ability to weigh the different management options, their comfort level with the proposed management option, and 96% agreed that they selected a management option together with their neurosurgeon during the 360°VR consultation.