Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is rolling out a virtual reality-powered program to help its healthcare workers practice mindfulness, cope with stress, and build resiliency skills.
“Mindfulness is known to be a powerful tool to reset and recharge, but it’s not the easiest thing to just go meditate,” said Robert Louis, chief of neurosurgery and the Empower360 Endowed Chair at Hoag.
“With virtual reality, you have the ability to immerse yourself in a beautiful, relaxing environment.”
The offering, called CenteredVR, is being deployed for frontline nurses in Hoag’s COVID-19 unit. “We’re one of the first hospitals to deploy a solution to help our nurses battle chronic stress and burnout that’s come along with the pandemic,” Louis said. Participants are provided a VR headset for four-to-six weeks, and have already reported 34% reduction in stress on average.