From simple doctor’s visits to extended hospital stays pediatric patients can present their own unique set of needs and challenges. Often times they don’t understand what is going on and this can cause them to have major fears of medical procedures and testing. Unlike their adult counterparts they may have trouble expressing their feelings, and let’s face it, when it comes to long hospital stays they can get really bored.
So today we look at some new high-tech toys that help children have a more positive experience in the healthcare setting.
Vaccines Are No Fun
So a Brazil based company developed a virtual reality game called VR Vaccine that makes the kids a hero in a game battling a villain. The kids wear armor and get to fight bad guys while the person giving the vaccine follows the story and coordinate motions like swabbing the skin and administering the injection to the story line.
It’s Hard to Say How You Feel
So US based Company Sproutel has created a robot duck companion for children undergoing cancer treatment with an emotion chip that allows the children to have the duck show how they are feeling. Children are also able to administer “chemotherapy” to their ducks through a special port. Insurance company Aflec is providing these ducks to pediatric cancer patients at no cost at this time.
Understanding What will Happen can be Challenging
So Canadian company RxRobots has created a robot called MEDi that helps kids understand a procedure and helps them learn how to relax and cope with procedures that may be uncomfortable or painful. Children can also perform procedures on the robot and it assures them they are doing a good job and reinforces that healthcare professionals are always trying to help their patient even when it seems like they are not in a child’s eyes.
These are just a few of the awesome high tech gadgets being developed to help children have a more positive experience in a healthcare setting to read more about these toys and others please click here and read the entire article recently published on BBC Health.