Disinfection of Virtual Reality Devices in Health Care Settings: In Vitro Assessment and Survey Study
Open accessAbstract
Background: Virtual reality (VR) devices are increasingly used in health care settings. The use among patients has the potential to unintentionally transmit pathogens between patients and hospital staff. No standard operating procedure for disinfection exists to ensure safe use between patients. Objective: This study aims to determine the efficacy of disinfectants on VR devices in order to ensure safe use in health care settings. Methods: Three types of bacteria were inoculated onto porous and nonporous surfaces of 2 VR devices: the Meta Oculus Quest and Meta Oculus Quest 2. Disinfection was performed using either isopropyl alcohol or alcohol-free quaternary ammonium wipes. A quantitative culture was used to assess the adequacy of disinfection. A survey was separately sent out to VR device technicians at other pediatric health care institutes to compare the methods of disinfection and how they were established. Results: Both products achieved adequate disinfection of the treated surfaces; however, a greater log-kill was achieved on nonporous surfaces than on the porous surfaces. Alcohol performed better than quaternary ammonium on porous surfaces. The survey respondents reported a wide variability in disinfection processes with only 1 person reporting an established standard operating procedure. Conclusions: Disinfection can be achieved through the use of either isopropyl alcohol or quaternary ammonium products. Porous surfaces showed lesser log-kill rates than the nonporous surfaces, indicating that the use of an added barrier may be of benefit and should be a point of future research. Given the variability in the disinfection process across health care systems, a standard operating procedure is proposed.
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Effective disinfection of nonporous surfaces of VR equipment has been demonstrated using either 70% isopropyl alcohol or alcohol-free quaternary ammonium wipes.
“Effective disinfection of nonporous surfaces of VR equipment has been demonstrated using either 70% isopropyl alcohol or alcohol-free quaternary ammonium wipes; however, any EPA-registered disinfectant with kill claims as permitted by the facility can be considered. 8,11”
From Applying principles to practice: cleaning and disinfection of extended reality equipment used in healthcare settings (2025) · cites this paper as [8]
Previous assessments of cleaning and disinfection of XR equipment reported that local infection control experts were not involved in performing risk assessments.
“Previous assessments of the cleaning and disinfection of XR equipment have reported that local infection control (IC) experts were not involved in performing risk assessments and that standard operating procedures for the cleaning and disinfection of XR equipment were absent. 8”
From Applying principles to practice: cleaning and disinfection of extended reality equipment used in healthcare settings (2025) · cites this paper as [8]
Previous assessments of cleaning and disinfection of XR equipment reported that standard operating procedures for cleaning and disinfection of XR equipment were absent.
“Previous assessments of the cleaning and disinfection of XR equipment have reported that local infection control (IC) experts were not involved in performing risk assessments and that standard operating procedures for the cleaning and disinfection of XR equipment were absent. 8”
From Applying principles to practice: cleaning and disinfection of extended reality equipment used in healthcare settings (2025) · cites this paper as [8]
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- Authors
- Roberts, S. C., Havill, N. L., Flores, R. M., Hendrix II, C. A., Williams, M. J., Feinn, R. S., Choi, S. J., Martinello, R. A., Marks, A. M., & Murray, T. S.
- Affiliations
- Yale New Haven Hospital (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Quinnipiac University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Roberts, Scott C
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2022-12-01
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- e42332
- ISSN
- 1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9756115
- OpenAlex
- W4306720352
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 1.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Yale University
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR001863)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Infection Control in Healthcare
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Medical Device Sterilization and Disinfection
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Infection Control and Ventilation
- Keywords
- virtual reality devices, disinfection, infection control, isopropanol, quaternary ammonium compounds, porous surfaces, non-porous surfaces, cross-contamination, standard operating procedures, pediatric health care, hospital staff
- MeSH terms
- Virtual Reality, Ethanol, Child, Delivery of Health Care, Disinfection, Humans, Surveys and Questionnaires, 2-Propanol, Ammonium Compounds
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