Colorful MRI Machines Change Children's Hospital Experience

'A hospital is not a place for children,' wrote Chaim Walder in his famous song 'There is Faith,' and no one has ever disagreed with this statement. Children typically arrive at hospitals under less than joyful circumstances, and many of the treatments and procedures scare them.

One particularly frightening test for children is the MRI scan, where they need to lie still on a metal bed for ten to thirty minutes, and the machine usually makes a loud noise that scares small kids. Official data in the West shows that between eighty and ninety-five percent of children who underwent MRI scans had to be sedated because the test was too frightening.

Doug Deitz, an American industrial designer, encountered this problem and decided it needed a solution. Why scare the kids or sedate them when you can turn the test into a child-friendly experience?

"I remember working at a hospital in Pittsburgh, USA, and seeing a young family bringing in a small child in tears for a scan," he recounts. He looked around and suddenly understood why the child was frightened. "You have a dark room with flickering fluorescent lights, and the machine looked like a brick with a hole in it." He had designed this machine for the hospital, but suddenly realized how unsuitable it was for children.

In collaboration with a medical equipment company and the Pittsburgh hospital, he began developing the 'Discovery and Adventures' series of MRI machines. These machines feature calming essential oils, eye-pleasing decorations, and virtual reality experiences. On one of the beds, children receive a gentle command: 'Lie in the canoe, and if you don't move, the fish will start jumping onto you!' Other devices simulate a submarine trip or sleeping in a sleeping bag under a starry sky that seems almost real.

The reactions of the children, who arrive frightened for a scan and quickly become enthusiastic about the machine, are worth everything, says Deitz. "This is probably the greatest reward I could ever receive!"