  Purpose: Preliminarily evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of using
meditative virtual reality (VR) to improve the hospital experience of intensive
care unit (ICU) patients.
  Methods: Effects of VR were examined in a non-randomized, single-center
cohort. Fifty-nine patients admitted to the surgical or trauma ICU of the
University of Florida Health Shands Hospital participated. A Google Daydream
headset was used to expose ICU patients to commercially available VR
applications focused on calmness and relaxation (Google Spotlight Stories and
RelaxVR). Sessions were conducted once daily for up to seven days. Outcome
measures included pain level, anxiety, depression, medication administration,
sleep quality, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, delirium status,
and patient ratings of the VR system. Comparisons were made using paired
t-tests and mixed models where appropriate.
  Results: The VR meditative intervention was found to improve patients' ICU
experience with reduced levels of anxiety and depression; however, there was no
evidence suggesting that VR had any significant effects on physiological
measures, pain, or sleep.
  Conclusion: The use of VR technology in the ICU was shown to be easily
implemented and well-received by patients.
