Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) is using gamified technology to help prepare kids for MRI scans.
The hospital last month unveiled an array of immersive technologies from Royal Philips intended to reduce anxiety in patients through interactive games and augmented reality.
MRIs can be stressful, particularly for kids, requiring patients to lay perfectly still for as long as an hour in an enclosed area with loud sounds.
“They’re afraid of this unknown, that ‘What are they going to do to me?’” Dr. Azam Eghbal, medical director of pediatric radiology at CHOC, told the Business Journal.
It also adopted the Philips Ingenia Edition MRI system, bringing the hospital’s total machines to three.
CHOC, which merged with Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego last month, so far has treated about 80 patients on the new Philips scanner.
Bringing an additional machine will help CHOC keep up with the increased demand for MRI services in Orange County, according to Andrew Ruiz, director of imaging services at CHOC.
Prior, the hospital’s backlog was upwards of 50 days, equivalent to more than 1,000 exams pending to be scheduled and completed at CHOC, he said.
Providing Positive Distractions
The Philips Pediatric Coaching line consists of a mobile app, miniature toy scanner and a video display inside the MRI machine.
The Scan Buddy app is intended to be used at home to familiarize children with an MRI prior to getting a scan.
The app has four modules, including a game where children are asked to identify equipment and tasked with keeping their phone or tablet still while an animal “scan buddy” slides into the machine.
CHOC also has a Philips’ Kitten Scanner in the waiting room for patients.
Children get to be technologists while using the miniature toy MRI, teaching them how the scanner works.
Using these technologies to make children feel more at ease not only helps improve the quality of a scan, but may also reduce the need for sedation, according to Eghbal.
“We were imaging them without sedation but routinely would fail and they had to come back and be scheduled with anesthesia,” she said. “With this experience, none of them had to come back.”
CHOC implemented these technologies this year after a five-year search for new MRI equipment.
The hospital sought out a new MRI machine, which Eghbal said is popular for its advanced imaging capabilities and lack of radiation.
“Because of the tissue resolution, we can diagnose everything much more confidently rather than any other type of modalities,” she said.
Only Pediatric Imaging Facility in OC
CHOC opened its radiology and imaging suite in 2022.
The 4,000-square-foot facility, located in the hospital’s Bill Holmes Tower, is touted as the first and only specialized imaging facility in OC dedicated to pediatrics.
It offers a range of imaging serving including ultrasounds, X-rays, fluoroscopies, MRIs and CT scans.
Equipment used in the facility is adjusted so that children receive smaller doses of radiation, according to Ruiz.
Adults, by comparison, are exposed to radiation doses up to 50% higher than at CHOC, hospital officials said.
“We’re looking to protocol every scan that we do so it’s safer for kids to undergo the exam,” Ruiz told the Business Journal.
Besides its technology, CHOC’s trained staff makes it a “true pediatric facility,” Eghbal said.
All the radiologists and nurses at CHOC are trained in pediatrics, often getting patient referrals from surrounding hospitals for certain specialties such as inserting intravenous lines (IV) in children.
CHOC has nine pediatric radiologists and will have 10 starting in July. As for operative staff, it counts another 130 people approximately between nurses, imaging aids, technologists and front desk staff.
