Philips Scan Buddy

Gamified way to prepare children for an upcoming MRI examination

Note: The Scan Buddy App is part of the Pediatric Coaching solution and a code is provided by your healthcare provider to guide you through the upcoming examination.

An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) examination can provide a wealth of information to your child’s pediatrician. But for children, undergoing an MRI exam can be a stressful experience. Tapping into the wonderment of this new experience, the Scan Buddy App engages your child on his/her level with an easy-to-enjoy cartoon world of Scan Buddies, so you and your child can undergo the MRI exam with confidence, distracted from fears. It will help your child to feel more in control.

The Scan Buddy App is developed following the Familiarize, Inform, and Train (FIT) framework and consists of 4 modules. The intro movie gives an overview of the procedures, steps, spaces, and people that the child will encounter. The MRI scanner is introduced in a non-threatening way, which explains why metal items are not allowed, and the child gets familiarized with the strange MRI sounds during the scan. In the MRI game, the child gets to help one of the Scan Buddies (Ollie) with her MRI scan. The game starts with the child having to remove the metal items from Ollie. And when Ollie is on the MRI table, the child gets to identify the right equipment for the scan such as earplugs, headphones, and head coil. When the table with Ollie slides into the MRI scanner, the child has to keep the phone or tablet still to help Ollie lie still during her scan. While kids practice lying still or holding still, they are again exposed to MRI sounds. The Augmented Reality game helps the child explore what an MRI scanner looks like. A sticker hunt game engages the child to walk around the MRI scanner and find stickers, which unlock educational material to further de-mystify the machine and process. The adult information module has an educational and a practicing skills section providing general information and suggestions about MRI scans to parents and caregivers.