Stanford University/Stanford Blood Center, California, United States
Background/Case Studies: Mixed Reality (MR) is a form of augmented reality – an immersive and interactive experience able to enhance a user’s environment. Here we report early results from a pilot study to evaluate MR’s usability, impact on anxiety, and safety in blood donation
Study
Design/Methods: Whole blood donors ≥ 18 years (yrs) old were enrolled in an IRB approved prospective observational study at 2 US blood centers. After study consent, eligible donors were provided a MR headset with independently developed software to wear during blood donation. Pre-donation (PrD) and post-donation surveys were conducted and donor reaction (rxn) data reviewed. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were performed on survey data.
Results/Findings: This analysis includes 193 enrolled donors (see Table 1). Overall, 78.9% donors wanted to try MR during donation as it seemed fun/different/cool/interesting. 70.3% donors reported it was moderately, very, or extremely easy to use the MR headset with overall similar acceptance across various age groups (P=0.12), and 58% stated they would use MR again during donation with the highest future interest in the 18-19 and 40-49 yr age groups. For PrD anxiety, 30.6%(59/193) had little anxiety and 23.7%(45/193) had moderate, high, or extreme anxiety. 40% 1st time and 37.5% 18-19yr old age group donors reported moderate, high, or extreme PrD anxiety which was statistically higher than other donation frequency categories or donation age (p< 0.05). For donors with PrD anxiety, 69.3%(70/101) responded that MR reduced their anxiety, specifically MR reduced anxiety somewhat in 39.6% (40/101) and significantly in 29.7%(30/101). 5.9%(6/101) and 2.0%(2/101) reported that MR somewhat and significantly increased their anxiety, respectively. The rate of pre-faint rxns and hematoma (hm) in donors using MR was 4.1% (8/193) and 1.0% (2/193), respectively although the pre-faint rxn rate at Site 1 was 0.6% (1/156) vs 18.9% (7/37) at Site 2. The baseline pre-faint rxn and hm rate is 1.8% and 0.68% at Site 1 and 1.9% and 4.6% at Site 2 (Site 2 hm rate includes all phlebotomy incidents). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that MR has the potential to improve the donor experience. Notably, for donors with PrD anxiety, about 70% said MR reduced their anxiety. Most donors found the headset easy to use and over half said they would use it again during donation. Donor rxns while using MR were all mild, but pre-faint rxn rates varied greatly between the 2 sites and further study is needed to evaluate rxn risk with MR. Ultimately, MR is an innovative technology that holds promise to increase blood donor engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
Importance of research: Mixed Reality (MR) is a form of augmented reality that creates an immersive and interactive experience to enhance a user’s environment. MR has been shown to be beneficial in healthcare and education, but MR has not yet been studied in blood donors. Using MR during blood donation has the potential to improve the donor experience, and to our knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate the use of MR during blood donation to determine its usability, impact on anxiety, and safety in this setting.
