- This activity allows pediatric patients to “drive” a remote-controlled car from their room to the entrance to the operating room.
- The intention is to reduce child stress and provide a positive distraction to the patient prior to performing surgery.
- A particularity is that the route is accompanied by a landscape that was painted by hand to simulate a path surrounded by nature and accompanied by the official mascot of the hospital: the Fezzy bear.
One of the biggest fears a child can face is having to be admitted to a hospital for an operation. It does not matter that it is a routine procedure because most patients develop high levels of childhood stress. Although it seems like a minimal aspect in the end, it can cause trauma that can last for the rest of your life.
Improve the experience of hospitalized children
With the above in mind, the Shriners Hospitals for Children inaugurated a new area that has the objective of avoiding that this type of experience marks the pediatric patients.
The Dr. Felipe Hacesmedical director of this institution, stressed that this new system will allow the patient reduce child stress on their way to the operating roomwhere they are normally carried on stretchers.
“We are implementing this dynamic in those patients who meet the requirements to get on these small remote-controlled carts and simulate driving them to the operating room. This allows the patient to be calm upon arrival and feel this exciting dynamic, thus forgetting the fear that surrounds undergoing a surgical procedure.”
These types of programs are already applied in different institutions in Spain, the United States and even here in Mexico. But in this case, the particularity is that the route is accompanied by a landscape that was painted by hand to simulate a path surrounded by nature and accompanied by the official mascot of the hospital: fezzy bear
Requirements that children must meet to be part of this tour
This activity will be applied to children between the ages of five and seven, always following safety protocols for patients. It is the nursing staff who is on the lookout at all times, using the remote control to drive until they reach their destination in the operating room, where stretcher bearers and nursing staff are ready to receive the patient after his walk through the conditioned corridors for this journey.
The Dr. Mariano González LugoGeneral Administrator of the Shriners Hospital for Children in Mexico, mentioned that this dynamic has been possible thanks to the generosity of our donors and the Shriners who supported the purchase of four electric carts, as well as the purchase of paint to decorate the walls to recreate a warm atmosphere surrounded by nature.
“This has been an idea that has been around for some time; however, thanks to the donations received and the support of a multidisciplinary team from the hospital, it was possible to start the project in November. What is intended here is to distract and reassure patients who, even on their way, can listen to music as if it were the car stereo”.
With this activity, the Shriners Hospital will be helping so that, on average, four children a day can be driving from their beds to the entrance to the operating room, reducing their stress and getting to their destination happy.
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