GE Adventure Series Scanner: A Happier MRI Scan Experience
Regardless of whether you’ve had the need to experience an MRI scan, you would probably agree that it is not a very pleasant experience — in fact, it can be downright scary.
No, I was not referring to the financial side to it (though it does add a certain degree of horror to the experience). I was rather referring to the experience itself. Namely, the experience of putting yourself powerless in a cold machine that blasts you with an incredibly strong magnetic field, all the time wondering what’s happening to your body.
The Problem
Now imagine what that experience would be like for a kid.
Seriously, though, imagine being the little boy/girl in this scenario. The stress builds up from the moment they know they have to be scanned. In the hospital, it doesn’t get better — all the fluorescent lighting, the warning signs on the door, the loud noise the machine makes — it just gets too Jason Bourne-y real fast. They’d start crying.
But it’s not only about the child’s comfort (though it is a perfectly valid concern, you monster). When a child cries and is afraid, they move around during the scan, making re-scans necessary, which results in additional cost of redoing the procedure and loss of time.
An unpleasant but unavoidable workaround was to sedate the children, with some reporting up to 80% of the children patients needing to be sedated. This also means when the anesthesiologist is not available, procedures are postponed, again leading to operational inefficiency.
The Solution
Make the MRI scan experience fun.
Doug Dietz, an industrial designer and employee of GE Healthcare, saw a little girl crying as she was about to get an MRI scan — in the very MRI scanner he and his team worked on for 2.5 years.
Ouch.
Applying the principles of human-centered design, Mr. Dietz and his team ran a series of ideation sessions where they asked customers and children what they would like, as they try to understand the MRI scanning journey through a kid’s eyes.
The result is what is called GE Adventure Series scanners. These are solutions where children are taken through the MRI procedures packaged in a variety of themed “adventures” so that they will feel excited, not frightened.
As you can see, the solution is not limited to the product (scanner). They transformed the whole experience of MRI scanning. Some examples include:
- Painting and putting props in the room — in the Pirate Adventure, there is a shipwreck and some sand castles in the corner
- Stories to ensure the correct behavior to get the scan accurately — in an adventure where the slab is a canoe, children are told not to “rock the boat” and told that if they hold still, fish will start jumping over them
- A script for machine operators — like a theme park ride, operators could lead young patients through the “adventure” as they undergo the scanning
The Result
Scanning time was reduced due to procedures being done correctly on the first time. There were fewer sedation requests for pediatric patients. Patient satisfaction score shot up to 90% — with one girl reportedly asking her mother “Mommy, can we come back tomorrow?”
All of these ultimately translates to benefits for all stakeholders involved: higher operational utilization of the machines (for the hospitals), better customer advocacy (for GE), and better experience of undergoing a medical procedure (for the patients).
So, as Doug Dietz said: “When you design for meaning, good things will happen.”
