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It’s Not a CT Scan, It’s a Spaceship!
By Denise Mann
WebMD Guest Blogger
Oct. 23, 2009 -- Your 3-year-old falls and hits his head so hard that he throws up. Does he have a concussion? Sometimes the only way to tell is with a CT scan.
Now just try to lure your son into one of those cold, metal – and frankly, terrifying machines. As many a parent or doctor can attest: it’s not easy. As a result, 70% to 80% of kids aged 3 to 8 who need diagnostic imaging such as a CT scan to rule out a concussion, for example, must be sedated, which increases the risks as well as parents’ fears about a diagnostic test that could save their lives.
But what if your son was dressed as a superhero replete with a cape and mask and asked to crawl through a tunnel to attempt a daring rescue? It might be an easier sell, and such medical play is becoming a reality in many hospitals across the United States where CT scanners are routinely being turned into space ships, jungle adventures, and more.
Preliminary data shows that there is 90% decrease in the need for sedation when children are presented such cleverly disguised scanners, says Bob Schwartz, general manger of global design for General Electric Healthcare, a company that is helping to spearhead such efforts. Schwartz made his comments at the General Electric Healthymagination conference in New York City, a two-week-long exhibit designed to introduce doctors, thought leaders, and patients to the next generation of medical technology. Clinical trials looking at the benefits of such disguised devices are slated to begin.
Such CT scanners are part of a new movement called “design thinking” that aims to take the cold, clinical, and scary out of medical equipment for kids, parents, and really patients of all ages.
The new CT scanners create illusions that change the environment. Instead of a diagnostic test, it’s an adventure that the child can be part of and this tale usually involves a scenario that calls for the child to lie very still, which allows the scanner to capture needed images.
“This softens the cold, metal traditional look of scanners, and makes it less intimidating because it is inherently fear-provoking,” says Gary Kalkut, MD, MPG, the senior vice president and chief medical officer at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Montefiore offers several such machines to pediatric patients.
Patients have a lot of anxiety about going to a hospital, and doctors and other health care professionals need to start seeing things through patient’s eyes, he says.
“Design thinking addresses the vulnerability and fear that are part of the hospital experience,” he tells WebMD.
“From the bedside to the hallways and all through the hospital environment, we need to address these issues with decorations on the wall, soft surface toys, sleeper sofas in kids rooms for parents, laptops, and/or flat screen TVs,” he says. “It’s important because you are no longer creating fear by walking into a sterile, harsh and unknown environment.”
It’s not just hospital equipment either. Some designers are working on child-friendly inhalers that work by inflating and deflating a balloon and medications that can be delivered by writing on your skin, says Paola Antonelli, the senior curator for architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Design thinking is the missing link, says Nicholas F. LaRusso, MD, director of the Center for Innovation & SPARC lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The SPARC lab is working to recreate and re-shape the entire patient experience with design thinking.
“We are diagnosing and treating disease more effectively than we ever have. There is no question about that,” he says. “What’s lacking is the delivery model, so the idea of bringing design thinking and innovation to the process of health care delivery is essential.”
Sources:
Gary Kalkut, MD, MPG, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y.
Nicholas F. LaRusso, MD, director of the Center for Innovation & SPARC lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Paola Antonelli, senior curator for architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
General Electric Healthymagination conference in New York City.
WebMD Guest Blogger
Oct. 23, 2009 -- Your 3-year-old falls and hits his head so hard that he throws up. Does he have a concussion? Sometimes the only way to tell is with a CT scan.
Now just try to lure your son into one of those cold, metal – and frankly, terrifying machines. As many a parent or doctor can attest: it’s not easy. As a result, 70% to 80% of kids aged 3 to 8 who need diagnostic imaging such as a CT scan to rule out a concussion, for example, must be sedated, which increases the risks as well as parents’ fears about a diagnostic test that could save their lives.
But what if your son was dressed as a superhero replete with a cape and mask and asked to crawl through a tunnel to attempt a daring rescue? It might be an easier sell, and such medical play is becoming a reality in many hospitals across the United States where CT scanners are routinely being turned into space ships, jungle adventures, and more.
Preliminary data shows that there is 90% decrease in the need for sedation when children are presented such cleverly disguised scanners, says Bob Schwartz, general manger of global design for General Electric Healthcare, a company that is helping to spearhead such efforts. Schwartz made his comments at the General Electric Healthymagination conference in New York City, a two-week-long exhibit designed to introduce doctors, thought leaders, and patients to the next generation of medical technology. Clinical trials looking at the benefits of such disguised devices are slated to begin.
Such CT scanners are part of a new movement called “design thinking” that aims to take the cold, clinical, and scary out of medical equipment for kids, parents, and really patients of all ages.
The new CT scanners create illusions that change the environment. Instead of a diagnostic test, it’s an adventure that the child can be part of and this tale usually involves a scenario that calls for the child to lie very still, which allows the scanner to capture needed images.
“This softens the cold, metal traditional look of scanners, and makes it less intimidating because it is inherently fear-provoking,” says Gary Kalkut, MD, MPG, the senior vice president and chief medical officer at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Montefiore offers several such machines to pediatric patients.
Patients have a lot of anxiety about going to a hospital, and doctors and other health care professionals need to start seeing things through patient’s eyes, he says.
“Design thinking addresses the vulnerability and fear that are part of the hospital experience,” he tells WebMD.
“From the bedside to the hallways and all through the hospital environment, we need to address these issues with decorations on the wall, soft surface toys, sleeper sofas in kids rooms for parents, laptops, and/or flat screen TVs,” he says. “It’s important because you are no longer creating fear by walking into a sterile, harsh and unknown environment.”
It’s not just hospital equipment either. Some designers are working on child-friendly inhalers that work by inflating and deflating a balloon and medications that can be delivered by writing on your skin, says Paola Antonelli, the senior curator for architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Design thinking is the missing link, says Nicholas F. LaRusso, MD, director of the Center for Innovation & SPARC lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The SPARC lab is working to recreate and re-shape the entire patient experience with design thinking.
“We are diagnosing and treating disease more effectively than we ever have. There is no question about that,” he says. “What’s lacking is the delivery model, so the idea of bringing design thinking and innovation to the process of health care delivery is essential.”
Sources:
Gary Kalkut, MD, MPG, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y.
Nicholas F. LaRusso, MD, director of the Center for Innovation & SPARC lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Paola Antonelli, senior curator for architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
General Electric Healthymagination conference in New York City.
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