Helping Patients Understand Their Dizziness: Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Printed Vestibular Model

To assess the improvement in patient understanding with use of a three-dimensional printed vestibular model as a teaching tool and to evaluate the effects of educational approach on dizziness-related disabilities. Single center randomized controlled trial set in the Otolaryngology ambulatory care clinic located at a tertiary care, teaching institution in Shreveport, Louisiana. Patients with a current or suspected diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo who met inclusion criteria were randomized to either the three-dimensional model group or the control group. Each group received the same education session about dizziness, with the three-dimensional model being used as a visual aid in the experimental group. The control group received only verbal education. Outcome measures included patient understanding of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo etiology, comfort level with symptom prevention, anxiety related to vertigo symptoms, and how likely the patient was to recommend the teaching session to another individual suffering from vertigo. Pre-session and post-session surveys were administered to all patients to assess outcome measures. Eight patients were enrolled in the experimental group, and eight patients were enrolled in the control group. On post-survey data, the experimental group reported increased understanding of symptom etiology (p = 0.0289), increased comfort level with preventing symptoms (p = 0.2999), a larger decrease in symptom related anxiety (p = 0.0453) and were more likely to recommend the education session (p = 0.2807) compared to the control group. Three-dimensional printed vestibular model demonstrates promise for patient education and reducing related anxiety.