• Anna K Schlechter, Winnie Whitaker, Sujit Iyer, Giovanni Gabriele, and Matthew Wilkinson.
• The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, United States of America. Electronic address: anna.schlechter@gmail.com.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Jun 1; 44: 296-299.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of virtual reality distraction (VR) during intravenous line (IV) placement in a pediatric emergency department to increase first-attempt IV success. Secondary endpoints included median time to successful IV placement, patient pain and anxiety scores, and an evaluation of characteristics of patients in whom VR is well tolerated.Study DesignThis was a randomized controlled trial at a tertiary pediatric emergency department, enrolling patients aged 4-17 years who required IV placement. Patients were enrolled only when child life specialists were unavailable. The primary endpoint was first attempt IV success.ResultsA total of 116 subjects were enrolled, 58 were randomly assigned to the VR group and 58 were assigned to the standard of care (SOC) group. 115 subjects completed the trial and were analyzed. First attempt IV success rates were similar between the groups (VR = 81%, standard = 84.2%, p = .65). Number of IV attempts and changes in pain and anxiety scores were also similar between the groups. The median time to successful IV placement was shorter in the VR group (78 vs 104 seconds) but this difference was not statistically significant (p = .21). Overall the VR headset was tolerated by 79% of subjects assigned to that group. The only significant predictor of headset tolerance was older age (P = .02).ConclusionsVR distraction for IV placement in the Pediatric Emergency Department shows similar efficacy to standard distraction techniques and appears to be well tolerated.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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