DISTRACTION-BASED VR STUDY APPROVED TO EXPAND INTO 3 NEW CLINICAL SITES (ANESTHESIOLOGY, CARDIOLOGY, NEPHROLOGY)

GAINESVILLE, FL., JULY 19TH, 2021 — Equal Access Research’s goal of developing the world’s largest medicalXR program has been accelerated after receiving approval to expand into three new clinical sites to assess the impact of distraction-based virtual reality on perceived pain and anxiety of patients undergoing surgical procedures. The research group is pleased to welcome Dr. Yury Zasimovich, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology; Chief, Acute & Perioperative Pain Medicine Division, Dr. Zubin Agarwal, Assistant Professor of Cardiology; Division of Electrophysiology, and Dr. Olanrewaju A Olaoye, Assistant Professor Of Nephrology, to our VR Program.

Since beginning patient enrollment in March 2021, the virtual reality study has rapidly grown to involve a group of nearly 50 specially trained research assistants to power our operations at 5 sites across the UF Health System. At Cardiology, distraction-based VR will be used during cardiac ablation and pacemaker placement interventions. With Anesthesiology, virtual reality will be applied during the utilization of epidurals for bone breaks. Lastly, our collaboration with Nephrology enables our research group to use virtual reality during renal biopsies.

In total, our program seeks to enroll as many as 400 participants across all 5 sites over the next year with the option of further expanding our operations to other clinical sites. We aim to provide evidence that would validate the use of VR as a supplement to reduce dosages of opioids and other analgesics commonly prescribed during and after medical procedures.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the United States having the Most Drug Overdose Deaths on Record in 2020, soaring almost 30% to a record 93,331 - deaths increased by more than 21,000 from 2019. “Our research is committed to addressing the opioid epidemic by introducing the transformative technology of virtual reality into the hospital setting and making it a part of the standard of care for pain management by the end of the decade.” Ajay Mittal, Director of Equal Access Research.