Engineering company Siemens have presented staff at Oxford Children's Hospital with a miniature MRI scanner to help child patients understand the MRI process.
The gift is the culmination of a year's work by the firm and the hospital's play specialist Sarah Browne, who first approached Siemens about the idea in October 2010. Children are often given general anaesthetics in order to have an MRI scan as it is important for the scan to be successful that the patient remains absolutely still. With the help of play specialists, some children are able to understand the need to stay still and therefore do not need to undergo general anaesthetic.
Sarah said: “A parent of a patient said to me that a toy-sized MRI Scanner would be a really helpful way to prepare children for an MRI scan. I decided to contact Siemens, who make MRI scanners to see if they could help. I was absolutely thrilled when they responded to say that they would and the model, which we have tested in the hospital, is brilliant.
“I have already used it to help prepare some really young children to have an MRI without the need for general anaesthetic. We use toy figures to show them how it works and the model even makes all the right sounds. It means that the patient can ask lots of questions about what is going to happen to them and talk about their feelings. This helps us prepare them to undergo the scan.”
Craig Marshall, managing director of Siemens Magnet Technology, which is based in Eynsham, said: “The Siemens Healthcare mission statement is that 'we innovate to improve human health'. This model is an example of where we have been very innovative in improving wellbeing, in this case of children who are about to have a MRI scan and all credit to our Siemens staff who took this idea and made it a reality. We are very happy to support our local hospital in every way we can."
The scanner was handed over on Tuesday, November 22.
