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Background Virtual reality (VR) has shown promising levels of effectiveness in nursing education, pain management, and rehabilitation. However, meta-analyses have discussed the effects of VR usage in nursing unilaterally and inconsistently, and the evidence base is diffuse and varied. Objective We aimed to synthesize the combined evidence from meta-analyses that assessed the effects of nurses using VR technology on nursing education or patient health outcomes. Methods We conducted an umbrella review by searching for meta-analyses about VR intervention in clinical nursing practice on Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane, and PubMed, and in reference lists. Eligible studies were published in English between December 1, 2012, and September 20, 2023. Meta-analyses of ≤2 intervention studies and meta-analyses without 95% CI or heterogeneity data were excluded. Characteristic indicators, population information, VR intervention information, and 95% CIs were extracted. A descriptive analysis of research results was conducted to discern relationships between VR interventions and outcomes. I2 and P values were used to evaluate publication bias. AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews) 2 and the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) checklist were used to appraise literature quality. Results In total, 768 records were identified; 74 meta-analyses were included for review. The most reported VR study conditions were neuronursing (25/74, 34%), pediatric nursing (13/74, 18%), surgical and wound care (11/74, 15%), oncological nursing (11/74, 15%), and older adult nursing (10/74, 14%). Further, 30% (22/74) of meta-analyses reported publication bias, and 15% (11/74) and 8% (6/74) were rated as “high” based on AMSTAR 2 and the GRADE checklist, respectively. The main outcome indicators among all included meta-analyses were pain (37/214, 17.3%), anxiety (36/214, 16.8%), cognitive function (17/214, 7.9%), balance (16/214, 7.5%), depression (16/214, 7.5%), motor function (12/214, 5.6%), and participation in life (12/214, 5.6%). VR treatment for cognition, pain, anxiety, and depression was effective (all P values were <.05), while the utility of VR for improving motor function, balance, memory, and attention was controversial. Adverse effects included nausea, vomiting, and dizziness (incidence: range 4.76%-50%). The most common VR platforms were Pico VR glasses, head-mounted displays, the Nintendo Wii, and the Xbox Kinect. VR intervention duration ranged from 2 weeks to 12 months (typically ≥4 wk). VR session length and frequency ranged from 5 to 100 minutes and from 1 to 10 times per week, respectively. Conclusions VR in nursing has positive effects—relieving patients’ pain, anxiety, and depression and improving cognitive function—despite the included studies’ limited quality. However, applying VR in nursing to improve patients’ motor function, balance, memory, and attention remains controversial. Nursing researchers need to further explore the effects and standard operation protocols of VR in clinical practice, and more high-quality research on VR in nursing is needed.
Background Virtual reality (VR) has shown promising levels of effectiveness in nursing education, pain management, and rehabilitation. However, meta-analyses have discussed the effects of VR usage in nursing unilaterally and inconsistently, and the evidence base is diffuse and varied. Objective We aimed to synthesize the combined evidence from meta-analyses that assessed the effects of nurses using VR technology on nursing education or patient health outcomes. Methods We conducted an umbrella review by searching for meta-analyses about VR intervention in clinical nursing practice on Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane, and PubMed, and in reference lists. Eligible studies were published in English between December 1, 2012, and September 20, 2023. Meta-analyses of ≤2 intervention studies and meta-analyses without 95% CI or heterogeneity data were excluded. Characteristic indicators, population information, VR intervention information, and 95% CIs were extracted. A descriptive analysis of research results was conducted to discern relationships between VR interventions and outcomes. I2 and P values were used to evaluate publication bias. AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews) 2 and the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) checklist were used to appraise literature quality. Results In total, 768 records were identified; 74 meta-analyses were included for review. The most reported VR study conditions were neuronursing (25/74, 34%), pediatric nursing (13/74, 18%), surgical and wound care (11/74, 15%), oncological nursing (11/74, 15%), and older adult nursing (10/74, 14%). Further, 30% (22/74) of meta-analyses reported publication bias, and 15% (11/74) and 8% (6/74) were rated as “high” based on AMSTAR 2 and the GRADE checklist, respectively. The main outcome indicators among all included meta-analyses were pain (37/214, 17.3%), anxiety (36/214, 16.8%), cognitive function (17/214, 7.9%), balance (16/214, 7.5%), depression (16/214, 7.5%), motor function (12/214, 5.6%), and participation in life (12/214, 5.6%). VR treatment for cognition, pain, anxiety, and depression was effective (all P values were <.05), while the utility of VR for improving motor function, balance, memory, and attention was controversial. Adverse effects included nausea, vomiting, and dizziness (incidence: range 4.76%-50%). The most common VR platforms were Pico VR glasses, head-mounted displays, the Nintendo Wii, and the Xbox Kinect. VR intervention duration ranged from 2 weeks to 12 months (typically ≥4 wk). VR session length and frequency ranged from 5 to 100 minutes and from 1 to 10 times per week, respectively. Conclusions VR in nursing has positive effects—relieving patients’ pain, anxiety, and depression and improving cognitive function—despite the included studies’ limited quality. However, applying VR in nursing to improve patients’ motor function, balance, memory, and attention remains controversial. Nursing researchers need to further explore the effects and standard operation protocols of VR in clinical practice, and more high-quality research on VR in nursing is needed.
BACKGROUND VR has shown promising levels of effectiveness in various scenarios, such as nursing education, pain management and rehabilitation. Current meta-analyses have discussed the effects of VR usage in nursing unilaterally and inconsistently, and the evidence base is diffuse and varied. OBJECTIVE This umbrella review aimed to synthesize the combined evidence from meta-analyses assessing the effects of nurses using virtual reality technology on nursing educations or patient health outcome. METHODS We conducted an umbrella review by searching Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane, PubMed and the reference lists of relevant studies. Eligible reviews published between 1 December 2012 and 1 December 2022. Appraised the quality of reviews using the AMSTAR and the GRADE Checklist for Systematic Reviews and meta-analysis. RESULTS 63 meta-analyses were included. The most VR study conditions were neuronursing(33%), neo-natal(26%), gerontic(8%), oncological(6%),wound care(5%) and nursing education(8%), and the problems expected to solve were pain(17%),anxiety(15%),motor(12%) and cognitive(8%) function and depression(7%).VR treatment on cognitive function, pain and depression is effective in neu-rological, neonatal, chronic & aging, breast cancer and wound patients, while it is controversial on anxiety for education and carcinoma other than breast cancer. Symptoms of adverse event were reported mainly including nausea, vomiting, dizziness. The prevalence of adverse reac-tions ranged from 4.76%-50% where VR interventions were used. Most of these meta-analyses are meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Approximately 61% were rated as very low, 27% as low, and 9% as moderate on the GRADE scale. CONCLUSIONS VR in nursing has a positive effect on relieving patients' anxiety and pain and improving cognitive function; The application of nursing VR in nursing education and improve patients' motor function, memory and attention is still controversial. Nursing researchers need to further explore the effect of VR on anxiety, pain, cognitive impairment and rehabilitation training, promote the clinical application of VR technology with practical clinical significance, and judge the trade-off between the actual benefits of VR use to patients and the human cost of VR equipment development costs, and more high-quality nursing VR articles are needed.
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