{"id":42029,"date":"2021-09-23T09:04:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T15:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=42029"},"modified":"2024-07-18T14:41:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T20:41:19","slug":"vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\/","title":{"rendered":"VR technology successfully distracts patient during her vaccination"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Amy
Amy Watanabe is proud to have finally gotten her COVID-19 vaccination. It took a team supporting her and virtual reality technology, but now she can continue coaching college volleyball, knowing she’s done her job to keep herself and others safer. Photo by Mike Mazzanti, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amy Watanabe wanted to get the COVID-19 vaccine. She is an assistant college volleyball coach and a person with asthma. She recognized the vaccine would keep her and those she works with safe.<\/p>\n

But there was one massive roadblock in the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a self-described \u2018hot mess\u2019 when it comes to needles,\u201d Watanabe admitted.<\/p>\n

She can’t explain why the severe phobia presented itself about a decade ago. She hasn’t been able to control her reaction to needles \u2014 which she describes as an \u201cout-of-body experience with Hulk-like strength\u2019\u2019 \u2014 until she discovered an innovative use of virtual reality technology to distract her from debilitating fear.<\/p>\n

With help from her primary care provider and UCHealth\u2019s innovation team, Watanabe curbed her phobia long enough to get a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt almost feels fake that I actually did it,\u201d Watanabe said about two weeks after she received her shot. \u201cIt was the easiest shot I had in 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trypanophobia: A fear of needles<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Watanabe is not alone in her fear. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 25% of adults fear needles at differentiating anxiety levels<\/a>. For Watanabe, the abject fear began in high school and increased in college to the point that she’d have panic attacks before getting her flu or other school-required vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not in pain, but it was that anticipation of it coming at me \u2014 it would freak me out for a solid 30 to 45 minutes,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd the poor nurses. I\u2019d cry hysterically. Then this Hulk strength takes over. I’d yell, cry and fight. What those incidences resulted in is three people holding me down and giving me the shot. I felt bad because I knew these people were trying to help, and I knew the vaccine would help.”<\/p>\n

\"Amy
Amy Watanabe with her mother, Pam, who has been Amy’s ‘rock’ as she deals with her needle phobia. Photo by Mike Mazzanti, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her fear went well beyond the school nurse’s office. At the dentist\u2019s office, when nitrous oxide didn’t work, Watanabe endured dental work without pain management intervention.<\/p>\n

She has found ways to get around her phobia. She once took a dose of tetanus shot to an already-scheduled surgery where she had the dose administered while she was under anesthesia. Not knowing if she\u2019s allergic to bees or tree nuts \u2014 both of which require a blood draw for diagnosis \u2014 Watanabe carries an Epinephrine injection (EpiPen) with her everywhere.<\/p>\n

When the coronavirus pandemic began Watanabe recognized she would need to address her fear once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the pandemic started, I knew it would come to a point when the vaccine would be part of the solution,” she said. \u201cWe knew that in March (2020), so I thought I should probably start trying to find a therapist who could help me. I didn’t do anything for a year but then started looking this past April. I tried three different therapists and didn\u2019t get anywhere. I also got on a waitlist for desensitization therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your primary care office is here for you<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In May 2021, Watanabe became a new patient at the Highlands Ranch Medical Center \u2013 Primary Care. She met with nurse practitioner Kate Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me about her phobia and how severe it is, as well as letting me know how much she wanted to manage it so she could get the COVID-19 vaccine,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

After their appointment, Johnson got to work investigating other options for her patient. She made a few therapist referrals, but there was another idea she thought might work: virtual reality.<\/p>\n

\"Nurse
Nurse Practitioner Kate Johnson of UCHealth Highlands Ranch Medical Center \u2013 Primary Care. It was Johnson who read about using VR technology during vaccinations to help with needle phobia and reached out to the UCHealth innovation team to see if they could help. Photo by Mike Mazzanti, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the weeks before meeting Watanabe, Johnson had read how physicians in the UK were using VR technology to help those with needle phobias get vaccinated. Having joined UCHealth with the opening of the Highlands Ranch Medical Center in 2019, Johnson wasn’t sure if UCHealth was using the technology. By happenstance one morning while logging onto her UCHealth computer, Johnson saw a photograph on the intranet of Nicole Caputo, a VR headset was resting on her knee.<\/p>\n

Watanabe wasted no time tracking down Caputo, senior director of UCHealth’s Innovation and Experience team.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Amy Watanabe shows her mother, Pam, a virtual reality headset, like the one Amy used during her COVID-19 vaccination appointment. Photo by Mike Mazzanti, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VR technology at UCHealth<\/strong><\/h2>\n

UCHealth first piloted the use of virtual reality technology<\/a> within its outpatient oncology infusion areas throughout the Front Range.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response was overwhelmingly positive<\/a> that we started the program in 2018,” Caputo said.<\/p>\n

VR use soon expanded to dialysis, wound care and the burn center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continually looking at new use cases for the technology to bring distraction therapy options to more patients across UCHealth,\u201d Caputo said. \u201cWe had lab visits on our expansion list for the program, but Amy\u2019s story has catapulted it to the top of the list.<\/p>\n

“If we can help more people who are hesitant to get a vaccination to overcome their anxiety, we need to do it.”<\/p>\n

Using VR technology to get the COVID-19 vaccination<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Caputo met with Watanabe to discuss how VR might be able to help in her situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not totally convinced, but I was super open,” Watanabe said. “I wanted a solution, at least for the short term, and Nikki (Caputo) was super-duper nice. I think that’s part of why it worked out \u2014 everyone was so kind and didn\u2019t make me feel crazy at all during this whole process. They were understanding and trying to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Amy Watanabe, center, and the “team” who helped her successfully overcome needle phobia enough to get her COVID-19 vaccine. From left, UCHealth Nurse Practitioner Kate Johnson, Amy’s mom, Pam, and UCHealth’s Innovation and Experience team’s senior director Nicole Caputo and manager Shae Smith. Photo by Mike Mazzanti, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two went through different virtual reality options for the headsets: guided meditation on a mountain top, a Northern Lights show, breathing bubbles.<\/p>\n

“It was really cool and pretty, but I told her, ‘This isn’t going to work for me,'” Watanabe said. “Then she told me there were games. Being a coach, I’m highly competitive.”<\/p>\n

The two settled on a game where Watanabe had to pop specific color balloons.<\/p>\n

\u201cGames fall into my personality \u2014 I was literally competing with myself trying to pop these balloons,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Amy after getting her COVID-19 vaccination through UCHealth. Photo courtesy of Amy Watanabe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The games don\u2019t have music, so Watanabe agreed to bring a playlist of her favorite songs when they met again for a \u201ctrial run\u201d of her vaccination.<\/p>\n

A few days later, Watanabe arrived at the UCHealth Innovation Center with her mother \u2014 her rock and support over the years. Johnson had prescribed anxiety medication to help Watanabe get through the process. Shea Smith, manager of Experience and Innovation at UCHealth, was there with a few other teammates to set Watanabe up with the VR and walk everyone through the mock scenario.<\/p>\n

“I was super optimistic,” Watanabe said. “It’s probably the most optimistic I have felt during this whole thing.”<\/p>\n

On July 28, 2021, they all returned for the real thing, and it went off without a hitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set it up just like the role play,\u201d Watanabe said. \u201cI started popping balloons, then I felt it go in and thought, \u2018Oh my gosh, it\u2019s happening. Find the red balloons.\u2019 I wanted (the vaccine) so bad \u2014 and I let it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watanabe celebrated with a five-hour nap.<\/p>\n

“It was a journey for sure,” she said. “I did it, and it’s a huge relief. It’s a huge victory.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amy Watanabe wanted to get the COVID-19 vaccine. She is an assistant college volleyball coach and a person with asthma. She recognized the vaccine would keep her and those she works with safe. But there was one massive roadblock in the way. \u201cI\u2019m a self-described \u2018hot mess\u2019 when it comes to needles,\u201d Watanabe admitted. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2164,"featured_media":42030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4860,9069],"class_list":["post-42029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-covid-19","tag-covid-19-vaccine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVR technology helps patient get COVID-19 vaccination - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With help from VR technology, Watanabe curbed her phobia long enough to get a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VR technology successfully distracts patient during her vaccination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With help from VR technology, Watanabe curbed her phobia long enough to get a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-23T15:04:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-18T20:41:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/09\/20095951\/VRvaccine-Amy-mom-headset-tiny.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kati Blocker, UCHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kati Blocker, UCHealth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kati Blocker, UCHealth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2974962d9c19ae1bbcec3250ab830fbc\"},\"headline\":\"VR technology successfully distracts patient during her vaccination\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-23T15:04:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-18T20:41:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1422,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/20095951\\\/VRvaccine-Amy-mom-headset-tiny.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"COVID-19\",\"COVID-19 vaccine\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Innovative care\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/vr-technology-helps-patient-get-covid-19-vaccination\\\/\",\"name\":\"VR technology helps patient get COVID-19 vaccination - 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