Virtual reality helps children cope with MRI scans

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Picture: The MRI virtual reality programme

eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Technology prepares children for MRI scans, making them more comfortable with the environment and building trust in the radiographer, leading to a better patient experience.

Virtual reality (VR) technology used on children needing MRI scans has eradicated Christchurch Hospital’s waiting list by removing the need for them to have a general anaesthetic.

Christchurch Hospital MRI team leader Peter Dooley was dealing with a six-month wait for children under six years old to have an MRI scan in mid-2017.

Children have to keep still for a long time to be scanned and tend to get scared by the loud noises and strange environment, which has meant in the past that they all needed a general anaesthetic.

Dooley has developed a VR experience that allows children to explore the MRI machine and play games with it before the procedure.

For children aged between four- to six-years-old, only 15 per cent now need a general anaesthetic, and this tends to happen when they are very sick or when the procedure is particularly long. This means there is no longer a waiting list for children to have a scan.

An MRI procedure was previously an eight-hour ordeal for a child and their family, as after undergoing the general anaesthetic, the child would have to go to recovery where they would often wake up feeling ill. Now, they can go straight home.

Dooley says that not only is it better for the patient, but it saves money for Canterbury DHB and frees up crucial resources to be used for other patients.

When eHealthNews.nz visited, Dooley showed how children use a VR headset and hand-held device to ‘teleport’ around the MRI room and throw square sponges into the virtual machine. They also experience the loud sounds that MRI machines make.

Dooley says that not only does the VR experience make children more comfortable with the clinical environment, but it also builds trust with him as the radiographer.

Dooley came up with the idea when he put a VR headset on his then two-year-old daughter and saw how powerful an effect it had on her.

“Part of my thought when developing it was that it’s like going to the dentist, the hardest part is walking through the door,” he explains. “This makes children excited about going into the room and having the procedure.”

Dooley currently assesses who would be an appropriate candidate for the VR experience, but he has an intern designing a clinical pathway, so the technology can be exported successfully elsewhere.

“I’ve been doing virtual reality for three years and I have learned a lot, so I’m building that into a programme, so it will tailor to individual needs and make it easier for any staff to be able to use it,” he says.

Dooley also uses VR on children who are scared to undergo a procedure such as a blood test or an IV being inserted. In that case, the child keeps the headset on during the procedure and experiences something distracting like a rollercoaster ride.

Hawke’s Bay iwi Ngati Kahungunu has invested in the work over four to five years and Dooley is working with Ian Taylor at Animation Research Ltd to develop the technology.

“I met with the iwi and they were wowed and could see that we need to be doing this for our children, no matter what culture they are from,” says Dooley.

He says the technology will ultimately be commercialised and he has already had interest from the United States, Australia and other parts of New Zealand.

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