Nyeeman Eshlibi, 16, and nurse May Anderson look for a game on one of Erlanger’s iPads on Friday afternoon. The hospital is using iPads to distract and inform younger patients during and between procedures.
Lilly Cash, 6, smiles as she looks over the list of books available on one of Erlanger’s iPads, held by Maggie Butler, on Friday. Butler reads aloud to Cash, who is paralyzed from the neck down, from the book list. The hospital is using iPads to distract and inform younger patients during and between procedures.Distraction is a wonderful thing when you’re little, especially if cancer, staph infections and CT scans are involved.
With that in mind, Erlanger Health System has made a night (or many nights) at the hospital a bit more bearable: Child Life Department specialists — professionals who administer all the nonmedical help patients need — use four donated iPads to keep toddlers and teenagers occupied as doctors go to work.
The best part? Playing Angry Birds or reading “Curious George” on the iPad’s smooth, rectangular screen puts a physical barrier between the child and all sorts of icky stuff: incisions, IV punctures, the works.
“They don’t see all that,” said Wallis Davies, who manages Erlanger’s Child Life Department. “And then the parents are less stressed because their child is less stressed.”
Child Life specialist Maggie Butler illustrated her technique to a reclining Friday afternoon visitor. Bending down to eye level, she began explaining a CT scan as if she was talking to a young patient.