University of Missouri - Saint Louis

10/19/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/19/2026 10:36

August DNP grad Tara Kempker examines how virtual reality interventions can help pediatric surgical patients

August DNP grad Tara Kempker examines how virtual reality interventions can help pediatric surgical patients

by Heather Riske | Oct 19, 2026

Through Kempker's project, patients reported meaningful reductions in anxiety and stress after using the Headspace for Kids app on a VR headset.

Tara Kempker is a nurse practitioner specializing in pediatric surgery at the University of Missouri Health Care's University Hospital in Columbia, Missouri. She recently earned her DNP from UMSL's College of Nursing. (Photo courtesy of Tara Kempker)

For much of her career as a pediatric nurse, Tara Kempker has worked to find ways to pinpoint how a patient's care might impact their mental health. A young patient in a bowel management clinic, for instance, might have anxiety around going to the bathroom that contributes to their chronic constipation. A teenage patient in a chest wall malformation clinic, meanwhile, might have self-esteem issues stemming from a sunken chest.

Kempker, who has worked as a nurse practitioner since earning her master's from the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Nursing in 2011, has made her interest in pediatric and adolescent mental health a cornerstone of her career. When she ultimately decided to go back to school to earn her Doctor of Nursing Practice from UMSL, it was only natural that the topic became a major focus of her work.

For the past four years, Kempker has worked as a nurse practitioner specializing in pediatric surgery at the University of Missouri Health Care's University Hospital in Columbia, Missouri. In this role, she provides preoperative and postoperative care, managing gastrostomy and feeding access and supporting chest wall malformation, bowel management and chronic constipation clinics. Her work includes multidisciplinary care with dietitians, physical therapists and other pediatric specialists, quality improvement, operational workflows and clinical guidelines, but at the end of the day, it's all about the kids.

"I really enjoy the multidisciplinary care, and I really enjoy caring for medically complex kids," Kempker said. "I really love being able to help those kids and families through that journey."

Kempker has always known she wanted to earn her DNP, and working in an academic setting through the University of Missouri System renewed her passion for completing her terminal degree. She found an encouraging environment in the DNP program and was particularly grateful for the support of Assistant Teaching Professor Charity Galgani, who served as a mentor and chair for her DNP capstone project.

"I could not have had a better mentor and experience as far as my capstone chair," Kempker said. "She was absolutely wonderful. There are a lot of other classes involved in the DNP program, but so much of it leads up to that capstone project and your dissertation. Having her to guide that process and really help me lay it out step by step was just phenomenal. And she did such an outstanding job that she just made all the pieces fit together perfectly."

For her DNP project, Kempker examined whether a preoperative virtual reality intervention could reduce postoperative pain in pediatric surgical patients. She stumbled upon the topic while conducting a literature search on anxiety in surgical patients and was blown away by the impact that virtual reality - whether in the form of VR movies, games or apps - could have on reducing both pain and anxiety for patients.

Kempker was able to implement her project in her own work setting. She knew immediately that she wanted an intervention that was both kid-friendly and easy to manage, as her hospital only has one child life specialist in the pre-op area. Informed by her training in cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness, Kempker was drawn to virtual reality programs that incorporated techniques such as deep breathing, positive thinking and visualization.

"I wanted them to do something more than just playing a game or watching a movie. I wanted it to involve some form of mindfulness, where they might not realize that they were learning this skill," Kempker said. "Something that they might be able to take home with them and continue to do at home."

Kempker ultimately landed on Headspace for Kids, a mindfulness and meditation app designed to help children build emotional regulation, focus, calmness and better sleep habits. Her study, which included 40 intervention patients between the ages of 7 and 18 as well as 40 comparable patients in a comparison group, gave patients access to a VR headset with the Headspace for Kids app while they waited in preoperative areas.

"While they were waiting in pre-op, they could use the headset and they could play any of the games or do any of the activities within the Headspace for Kids app, and that was the only app that was available to them on the headset," Kempker said. "There were deeper games that they could play that helped with staying in the moment and really paying attention to your surroundings - colors and sounds and using your senses. There were some games about understanding your feelings. They could play those games while they were just waiting in the preoperative area or getting an IV inserted, and then we tracked what their pain scores were and how much pain medication they got in their postoperative course."

Kempker's project found no statistically significant difference in pain scores or pain medication doses for intervention patients, but several patients and families reported meaningful reductions in anxiety and stress after using the VR headsets.

One patient, for instance, came to the hospital for weekly procedures. At his first appointment, he was visibly nervous - so much so that his parents even commented on it to the nursing staff. As soon as he put on the VR headset and started playing a game, however, he immediately relaxed. The following week, when he came back for his next procedure, he ran excitedly into the preoperative area, asking where the headset was.

"He wasn't scared at all," Kempker said. "He wasn't bothered at all to be there. He just wanted to play on the headset."

For Kempker, moments like that were extremely encouraging. She sees numerous ways for the program to expand its scope, from training more staff on VR technology to implementing the headsets in settings where procedures are performed, such as the hospital's radiology suites. The College of Nursing was impressed by her project, too - so much so that she received the Innovations in Clinical Practice Award at the college's Awards and Pinning Ceremony in August.

"I did not have any expectation that I was going to win an award for it, and so it was a huge surprise," Kempker said. "I just felt really honored because the project meant a lot to me, and our whole team worked really hard together on it, and they were all really supportive. I just felt really humbled and honored to have been recognized for that work."

Even more exciting than any award, however, is the positive impact that her DNP project can have on real-life patients. Kempker presented the results of her project to leadership at her hospital, who were extremely supportive and encouraging. Hospital leadership want her to continue expanding her project to offer VR technology to more patients, which she now knows can have a transformative impact on their stress and anxiety.

"I hope that it made people here excited to continue using it and opened their eyes to the impact that anxiety has and some new and innovative ways that we can address it," Kempker said. "We have this available to us, and we should continue to use it because it is really helpful to our patients."

Moving forward, Kempker is applying for grants to fund more headsets for the hospital, which will enable her to roll out the VR technology program in its surgery clinic and other settings at the hospital involving stressful procedures, such as radiology suites. She is also working on additional staff training and multidisciplinary quality improvement initiatives with anesthesia, including pain-management protocols and efforts to improve anxiety, outcomes and hospital length of stay.

She feels that her education in the DNP program gave her the formal education and training needed to successfully complete those quality improvement projects and, in turn, improve patient care.

"It really was key," she said. "I feel like I was already doing a lot of leadership, quality improvement and things that I learned about in the DNP program, but I just kind of picked it up and started learning little bits and pieces along the way. Going through the program and learning about how to do it from the academic side really helped me put all the pieces together and hone my skills to help me do a better job."

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