Controlling Pain After Trauma

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The treatment of postoperative pain after severe trauma is poorly understood, and it can lead to chronic pain, opiate drug addiction and elevated health care costs. The proposed project will be a randomized controlled trial to evaluate an innovative methodology for delivering clinical hypnosis (virtual reality hypnosis) for pain control as well as a more time-honored delivery system that uses audio recordings. The goal will be to reduce postoperative pain in a sample of patients hospitalized for the care of severe orthopedic trauma. 300 patients admitted to a major regional trauma center will be randomly assigned to groups that receive virtual reality hypnosis (VRH), standard audio hypnosis (via CD or MP3 player) or standard control. The orthopedic trauma will involve long bone or pelvic fractures. The VRH intervention will involve immersive virtual reality technology, which allows the patient to enter a three-dimensional, illusory world designed to capture attention and create a sense of presence. Patients will receive this intervention 1-2 times prior to their surgery and then 2-5 times in the days following the operation. Outcome measures will involve patient ratings of pain, anxiety, sleep quality, medication intake, long-term health related quality of life, emotional adjustment and length of hospitalization. It is hypothesized that both the VRH and audio hypnosis intervention will create reductions in patient pain reports. Orthopedic trauma pain has been poorly studied, and so has non pharmacologic approaches to reducing pain and complications from surgery. The proposed study will test a unique intervention with a population that has seldom been studied, and the findings could be applied to countless patients and procedures.