About six months ago, we featured a brief audio interview with Bob Schwartz — GE’s General Manager of Global Design — who described an exciting new project at GE Healthcare to help reduce stress in children undergoing imaging scans. As Bob explained, the often scary, anxiety-filled experience can be dramatically altered by making jungle, pirate and undersea adventures come alive right in the imaging room. Today we’re taking a closer look at that groundbreaking pilot program — which is called the GE Adventure Series and was developed in partnership with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. As Doug Dietz, Principal Designer, GE Global Design, says in the video below about the series, which is not commercially available yet: “I always kept in my mind that frightened child who was going through cancer or that was really having some problems going through their scan. That is such a tough thing for a little one. It’s such a tough thing for a family. And I did put my heart and soul behind it. It means a lot to me now that we have a solution — and that the solution is helping these families.”

Recognizing the importance of patient perception, the GE Adventure Series™ team and Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC take an unconventional approach to improving childrens imaging experience.

In a study conducted by Children’s Hospital from 2006–2007, before the Adventure Series was installed, the staff found standard, non-decorated, rooms stressed children to the point that many needed to be sedated before they would lie still. In contrast, an underwater-themed room with life-sized mermaids and music reduced anxiety in families and children — and reduced sedation rates — the study found. “All of our equipment is very high-tech,” says Kathleen Kapsin, director of the Pediatric Radiology Department at Children’s Hospital. “We can get you great images, but we can’t get them if the child isn’t laying still and feeling well enough to go through the scan.”

In developing the solution, which is part of GE’s healthymagination initiative, Doug and his team worked with a children’s museum, a daycare and childhood development experts to understand the needs and perspectives of young patients. “We did simple things that get overlooked,” Doug says. “I mean, some of the most effective insights we got came from kneeling down and looking at rooms from the height of a child.”

Adds Kathleen: “These kids are dealing with serious problems. Something like cancer isn’t cured through colorful paint. We know that. But this is about acknowledging patients and their needs beyond medicine. If we can do that then we have elevated them beyond just another patient. They are individuals.”

* Read Vivek Kemp’s article about the Series
* Listen to our audio interview with Bob Schwartz
* Read more healthymagination stories on GE Reports