Nobody likes the sight of a needle, especially kids. 60% of children report severe pain when their pediatrician uses a needle to draw blood or administer an IV. Yet these are necessary procedures, which begs the question: if you can’t eliminate the needles, how do you alleviate the pain? The team at Smileyscope were determined to find an answer.
Using virtual reality to offer a change of scenery
We created a virtual reality experience that transports children from the doctor’s office to an underwater seascape during their procedure.
It is totally immersive; we even coordinated the pediatricians actions with VR animations. For example, when the pediatrician cleans the patient’s skin with an alcohol swab, the patient sees soothing waves washing over their arm.
If he had no goggles and just watched, I think he would have been climbing the walls. They were amazing at distraction.
Patient’s Mother
A hit with patients & caregivers
Smileyscope is one of the first proven, successful pediatric VR interventions. After more than 80 clinical trials, patients reported a 60% decrease in pain and a 40% decrease in anxiety when using Smileyscope during a procedure. What’s more, caregivers responsible for those patients reported a 75% reduction in distress.
Smileycope won several awards for the effort, including the 2019 Webby award for best VR Experience.
Questions?
Managing Director Family & Kids, Two Bulls/DEPT®
Joey Egger
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