Okee in Medical Imaging app for the Royal Children's Hospital

CLIENT

The Royal Children’s Hospital

The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne is recognised as one of the world’s great paediatric hospitals. They are the major specialist paediatric hospital in Victoria and provide care to children across Australia in areas of complex surgery including liver and heart transplantation.

BRIEF

Increase familiarity, decrease stress

Medical imaging is a daunting experience. Procedures are intimidating and can be invasive. We wanted to understand the triggers for anxiety and how best to combine a digital experience with the physical hospital environment to help young patients prepare before their appointments. Together with the RCH, Conduct developed ‘Okee in Medical Imaging’ – a friendly marine character designed to build children’s confidence. Okee emphasises that there is nothing to fear when looking under the surface of things.

Designing for patients, parents & practitioners

We started this year-long, highly agile project with a discovery phase which included observation of procedures and background interviews with key staff. Game concepts were iteratively tested and refined with real users, keeping us focussed on the needs of young patients and their parents.

Knowledge is power

From surveying families and clinicians, we determined what young patients needed to know before their appointments at the hospital. Okee in Medical Imaging prepares kids to stay still, hold their breath and guides them through the equipment and instruments they will be exposed to.

Making real-life scenarios fun

The app comprises several games to steer children through the actual experience they will undergo – it aims to make learning about the radiology experience fun. Once the project was released, the Royal Children’s Hospital conducted a research project to measure its success.

There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a child come into the hospital calm and relaxed and leaving the same way. Siobhan Greene Educational Play Therapist

Results

An average reduction in preparation time of six minutes per patient
40% decrease in compliance difficulties during imaging procedures after using the app
45% reduction in anxiety when patients were asked to lie down for imaging