Virtual reality for dialysis education

During 2021/22, Glasgow Royal Hospital for Children successfully received funding to develop a Virtual Reality (VR) application, to provide theoretical and practical dialysis training. The Kidney Research UK/Stoneygate innovation grant was awarded to facilitate research to advance education and make dialysis more tolerable and effective.

Families with a child in end-stage kidney disease, and adult patients, often have a decision about the dialysis modality they wish to pursue, with an increasing emphasis on shared decision-making with clinician support. Patients and families may not have sufficient knowledge of what dialysis modalities involve or what they 'feel like’ so a solution was needed to aid shared decision making to ensure they are more fully informed of their options.

Training opportunities for staff can be limited due to small patient numbers, and training for patients often requires an in-patient stay or multiple hospital attendances.

The VR tool is designed to support patients, families and staff. The VR solution seeks to shorten patient admissions, provide a simulated experience of each dialysis modality to inform patient choice, increase confidence before performing dialysis 'for real', and to allow simulated training of potential complications and troubleshooting to emulate real-world situations, which was previously limited.

The nature of VR allows multiple forms of feedback including visual and auditory signals, and haptics. There is no time limitation for set-up, or adverse consequences to training errors in VR. The VR-based model pilot is currently for peritoneal dialysis (with hope to expand to home haemodialysis). Further funding is currently being sought to expand development.