A National Health Service physicist has developed a new virtual reality (VR) app that could help ease anxiety and fear for pediatric patients undergoing MRI, according to a report published Sept. 13 by The Guardian.
With an office next door to the radiology department, Jonathan Ashmore, PhD, an MRI physicist at King's College Hospital in London, often heard children crying during MRI scans. He then spent a year creating a 360-degree VR app for pediatric patients to better understand their upcoming scan.
Ashmore explained that the app has had particular success with children with epilepsy and even with patient’s parents.
“An unexpected result was the impact it had on parents. It’s often the parents who are more anxious about their child’s upcoming MRI and this anxiety naturally rubs off on to the child,” Ashmore told The Guardian.
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A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.