Virtual reality headsets used to tackle child anxiety in hospitals

A virtual reality headset is helping children overcome their fear of hospitals.

Nervous children are fitted with the headset, ahead of a simple procedure, to watch a seven-minute film featuring Roomi, a doctor rabbit who treats patients in a virtual world.

The aim of the programme is to ease their hospital anxiety by showing children the simplicity of common medical procedures.

The clever technology was presented on the second day of Arab Health, the region’s largest medical exhibition, in Dubai.

“When children come into a hospital they are usually scared or frightened, that makes giving them certain medical treatments difficult,” said Shauna Heller, project manager at Clay Park VR, a US company working on the project.

“[This] makes it easier for nurses to take blood, provide a vaccine or put a limb into a cast.”

Designers worked with doctors at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital to understand what procedures cause the most stress for children, and have created a world populated by characters with similar ailments.

Health companies Pharmatrade and SyMed are delivering the application to care networks across the region.

A follow-up mobile phone app uses AR technology to give children advice on how to care for their injury or illness, with the same cartoon character on hand to answer questions they may have.