At the Annual Meeting, Ms. Scott is coordinating a telemedicine panel with an occupational therapist, nurse practitioner and physician. They will discuss how they use telemedicine to deliver rheumatology care to incarcerated patients and those who live in rural areas. Although telemedicine, which may utilize voice-over-Internet protocol, email or other technologies, will not replace face-to-face clinic visits, but expand rheumatology providers’ reach and provide easier follow-ups, says Ms. Scott.
Digital Evidence will include a presentation on data to support the use of VR, a technology Dr. Venuturpalli’s hospital has used to address acute pain. VR uses three-dimensional (3-D), multisensory imagery to distract patients from painful or distressing stimuli. Patients use headsets to look at imagery on a screen. In 2017, his colleagues published the results of a clinical trial that found 65% of patients with stroke, seizure and epilepsy reported reduced pain after using VR compared with 40% of controls who did not use VR.4
“VR may work because of the distraction of being out of the place you’re in,” says Dr. Venuturupalli. More research is needed to learn how VR may work in chronic pain. “VR can also be used for simulation training for medical students or practitioners doing a procedure for the first time, or educating patients on how to do movement therapy.”
He’s conducting a new clinical trial on an immersive blend of VR and biofeedback, which uses sensors on the body to help patients learn to control such functions as heart rate or muscle tension, which “may be a good way to control chronic pain and be a helpful tool for rheumatologists,” he says. “If used along with VR, biofeedback can be even more effective at treating chronic pain.”
Susan Bernstein is a freelance medical journalist based in Atlanta.
References
- The Internet and health. Pew Research Center/California Health Care Foundation Health Survey, August 7–September 6, 2012. 2013 Feb 12.
- Des Bordes JKA, Gonzalez E, Lopez-Olivo MA, et al. Assessing information needs and use of online resources for disease self-management in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A qualitative study. Clin Rheumatol. 2018 Jul;37(7):1791–1797.
- Billiet L, Swinnen TW, Westhovens R, et al. Accelerometry-based activity recognition assessment in rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease. Sensors (Basel). 2016 Dec;16(12):2151.
- Tashjian VC, Mosadeghi S, Howard AR, et al. Virtual reality for management of pain in hospitalized patients: Results of a controlled trial. JMIR Mental Health. 2017 Jan–Mar;4(1):e9.
