Tech & Innovation in Healthcare

Question: In our pediatric practice, administering vaccines with kids is the hardest part of our day. A lot of parents will bring tablets in to distract the child while we administer the injection.

Are there examples of using technology to help the pediatric patients relax during needle-based procedures?

Oklahoma Subscriber

Answer: Video games, movies, tablets, and other devices are great ways to help children relax or be distracted during procedures. One example of this method is using virtual reality (VR) with pediatric patients.

Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, Florida announced the addition of the Smileyscope VR therapeutics to help patients relax during needle-based procedures in the hospital’s emergency department (ED). “Needle procedures can be very stressful for children of all ages,” said David Seo, MD, senior vice president and chief information and digital officer at Nicklaus Children’s Health System in a press release.

Smileyscope’s VR tool helps provide a comfortable and positive patient experience and clinical trials have shown that the program helped reduce pediatric needle pain by nearly 60 percent and helps reduce anxiety by 40 percent.

Currently, the VR technology is used by more than 40 hospitals across the United States.