From the June 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine



“We do a lot of singing, dancing and trying to get them involved,” Rosenberg says of the technicians, who are trained to assist children. “They have quite a gamut of skills.”

They reward children with lollipops and stickers when they behave well — and that goes a long way to get a child to stay still for the time it takes to complete a procedure.
“We do whatever we have to do to try to get cooperation,” Rosenberg adds. “From the beginning to the end of the experience, we really try to provide a warm, cozy environment.”

The hospital also uses child life specialists that can sit with the children and respond to their parents’ needs before an imaging appointment.

Like other hospitals, Rosenberg has found that many adults want to enjoy distraction techniques during their imaging procedures. They need it too, and she believes that trend is spreading throughout the radiology field.

Preparing for success
In addition to distractions, the latest advancements in pediatric imaging also include programs that prepare children and their families for procedures long before they set foot in a medical facility.

Erin Stanford, a certified child life specialist at Children’s National Health System, which has imaging locations in Washington D.C. and Rockville, Maryland, helps run the hospital’s MR-I Can Do It program. The initiative enables parents and children to meet with a child life specialist who teaches them what to expect during the test. The hospital is currently studying the efficacy of the intervention program to see how well it works in reducing sedation rates among children.

For program participants, Stanford uses a customized approach to see which aspects of the experience might be stressful and how she can help make the experience easier.

“We try to prepare them at their level for about what they’re about to experience,” Stanford says. “We work with the family to help them cope with those stressors.”

Some children want to know what the scanner sounds like, and others want to practice lying still in a pop-up tunnel — all requests that Stanford accommodates. They also have a wooden MRI machine that the child can “operate” using a doll.

While some of their rooms feature GE Adventure Series, they also use video screens and headphones in their rooms so children can watch movies or listen to music during a scan.

In addition to the patient and family members, part of Stanford’s job is to coordinate with the technologist to convey the child’s specific needs. Simple things like letting a parent hold the child’s hand during a procedure can make a big difference in creating a positive experience. “We try to create a child-friendly environment,” Stanford adds.



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