Recruiting

Virtual Reality

Sponsor:

Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Code:

NCT07649876

Conditions

Delirium in the Intensive Care Unit

Sleep Quality in Adult ICU Patients

Agitation Associated With Critical Illness

Anxiety Acute

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 0+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Virtual reality (VR) therapy

Study Details

Brief summary:

This is a pilot feasibility study examining the use of immersive virtual reality (VR) in adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The study evaluates whether brief, non-interactive VR sessions delivered using a commercially available standalone head-mounted display with calming, nature-based content can be delivered safely and effectively within routine SICU workflow. Exploratory objectives assess whether VR sessions are associated with changes in anxiety, agitation, delirium, pain, and sedative medication requirements. This research is not intended to evaluate the safety or effectiveness of the headset and/or the specific VR software used for the research

Conditions

Delirium in the Intensive Care Unit

Sleep Quality in Adult ICU Patients

Agitation Associated With Critical Illness

Anxiety Acute

Study ID

NCT07649876

Start date

Jun 2, 2026

Status verified date

Jun, 2026

Completion date

Sep, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 0+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Aged ≥ 18 years old admitted to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
2. No significant uncorrectable visual or auditory impairments
3. Estimated ICU length of stay > 48h
4. At the time of each VR session, able to keep eyes open for at least 30 seconds, follow simple commands and able to indicate discomfort or request to stop.
5. English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Significant hemodynamic instability
2. Known psychotic disorders associated with delusions (e.g. schizophrenia)
3. Severe dementia (e.g. inability to communicate or follow simple commands)
4. History of disequilibrium syndrome or vertigo
5. Acute hyperactive delirium, requiring physical restraints

Study Design

Enrollment

30 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: VR Intervention

Critically ill patients

Interventions

Virtual reality (VR) therapy

VR sessions will use a commercially available headset with non-interactive, immersive content displaying calming nature-based content (e.g., ocean/beach scenes, forests, mountains) delivered through a commercially available VR application

Primary outcome measure

  • Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) [ Time Frame: From time of enrollment to end of intervention at 3 days ]
  • Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) [ Time Frame: From time of enrollment to end of intervention at 3 days ]
  • Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) [ Time Frame: From time of enrollment to end of intervention at 3 days ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Pauline H Go, MD

717-531-5429paulinego@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

Aleksandr Davtyan

adavtyan@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

Locations

Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Recruiting

Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, 17033

Contacts

Pauline Go, MD

7175315429paulinego@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

Aleksandr Davtyan

adavtyan@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

More Information

Sponsor

Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Last update posted

Jun 22, 2026

Last verified

Jun, 2026

Keywords

  • Virtual reality
  • Intensive care unit
  • Pain
  • Agitation
  • Anxiety
  • Sleep Quality

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Milton S. Hershey Medical Center on 2026-06-22.