An interactive underwater adventure is helping improve what can be a scary experience for children — procedures involving needles.

In a world-first trial, Monash Children’s Hospital and the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne have found significant reductions in feelings of pain, distress and anxiety among children after using virtual reality technology as a distraction.

The VR film, played on a Google Pixel device using a headset, begins with a relaxation sequence before an underwater world opens up, allowing patients to interact with animated sea-life, including fish, dolphins and whales.

Scenes are timed with the procedure, such as feeling water as the nurse or doctor cleans the skin or a fish nibbling as the needle is inserted.