Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) examination is often considered a frightful experience – despite being harmless and painless, the fact of being closed in the bore of the noisy MRI for a relatively long time brings fear not only to small kids but even to some adults. Medical informatics can be applied, in an interdisciplinary context, to take away the fear of MRI examinations even from the youngest patients. Therefore, our two bachelor students, Sandro Lercher (Multimediatechnology) and Martin Lipitsch (Medical Engineering), have created a virtual walk through the radiology department of the hospital. This is intended to give children an insight into an MRI examination in advance and thus reduce their fear of the unknown. With a self-developed concept, script, funny short videos and the virtual walk itself, the application offers a digital experience for young and old.
But it should not stop there – Mr Lipitsch continues the project in the context of his bachelor thesis and adds further components with deeper knowledge transfer about the MRI. In a playful way, children should lose their fear of the sound and the MRI scanner itself through knowledge. In the future, a small-scale evaluation of this idea is planned. There are already numerous inquiries and interested parties who want to take a look at the application, and other departments in the hospital have already expressed their desire for a similar virtual walk.
This project as well as the continuing bachelor thesis was supervised by our lecturer for Medical Informatics, Daniela Elisabeth Ströckl, PhD, and carried out in cooperation with Ms Birgit Lippe, MSc from the radiology technology department of the University of Applied Sciences Carinthia and the colleagues from the Klagenfurt Hospital, the CliniClowns and the company Charly Rocks.
If you are interested in trying the virtual walk through the radiology department by yourself, please checkout https://my.charly.rocks/tour/kabeg-virtual-walk
Yours,
MedTech @ FH Kärnten Team
