Take a tour of the "Ambient Experience"

Imagine making a child's visit to the hospital calmer and less intimidating. That is exactly what the world's first Ambient Experience radiology suite at Lutheran General Children's Hospital is meant to do. The suite is designed to create a soothing environment using cartoon animation that helps children to relax while undergoing computed tomography (CT) scans.

Advantages of the Ambient Experience CT

A CT exam requires a patient to lay perfectly still, and can be very scary or intimidating to a child. About one-third of children require sedation because they are unable to relax enough for a successful diagnostic exam; this can add six-to-eight hours of recovery time to a procedure that could be completed in 15 minutes. When the need for sedation or repeat exams is reduced, this helps to keep a young patient's radiation doses to a minimum.

Before your child's exam

While in the waiting room, the child has the opportunity to interact with the "Philips Kitten Scan," a miniature CT scanner that is an educational resource for children. Children select a toy, place it on a miniature exam table and slide it into the Kitten Scan to learn why the toy is 'sick.' Animation appears on a screen that shows children what doctors are looking for inside the toys and tells them a story about each one. The kid-sized scanner was designed by Philips to provide children with an opportunity to use a scanner themselves and learn how it works to help ease their minds about their own exam.

 
How the "Ambient Experience"works

In the reception area of Lutheran General Children's Hospital young patients select cartoons and animation themes that are later projected on the wall and ceiling of the exam room, accompanied by corresponding music and sounds. Specialized lighting brings a wash of color into the experience. All effects are triggered when patients pass a radiofrequency identification(RFID) card over a reader in the suite

Animation in the suite will demonstrate to young patients how they should remain still and hold their breath during the CT scan. The child will be able to practice holding still with the animation before the actual scan takes place. Once the scan is complete, the child is able to take the three-dimensional RFID scanning card home as a souvenir of their Ambient Experience.