Looking ahead, the team hopes to expand the system to the emergency department. More work needs to be done, but with its success so far, Moore and Pitchure say that the implementation will be incredibly useful.
“The emergency department will do the head-to-toe assessment, generating a score that will help provide guidance for the providers to think about next steps. It will help get the patient to the right level of care from the beginning,” Pitchure says.
Easing Fears with Enhanced Patient Experiences
Creating a calming environment for patients and their families to begin what can be a nerve-wracking care journey is a goal for many children’s hospitals. In Southern California, when Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital needed a new facility to comply with updated seismic codes, leaders saw the opportunity to create a high-tech, welcoming environment.
The result is Loma Land, a 60-foot-long digital interactive experience in the hospital lobby. Visitors interact with digital wall screens to choose an animated forest creature to personalize. Then, as they begin their walk down the hallway, their customized friend accompanies them in a captivating walk. Motion sensors have the animals follow their “owners” and even respond to their waves.
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“Digital technologies are getting to the point where they can help us see or imagine things that weren’t possible before,” says Loma Linda University Health CIO Mark Zirkelbach. “We can imagine being in a dark spot. Maybe you’re scared or away from home. You can have a moment to smile or relieve stress, which is important to the healing process.”
The stories on the wall and the scenarios can all be changed over time. Zirkelbach says that similar technologies could also be used for in-room education.
“Imagine sitting in a room with a doctor and talking about your child’s X-ray,” he says. “With a 3D digital model, we could help parents and patients visually connect the dots and offer them a much greater understanding of their situations. To visualize that is very powerful.”
Safer Surgeries Through AI
Even with some reservations, parents have so far been generally receptive to the use of AI in certain pediatric acute cases, a Chicago-based children’s hospital found in a 2022 survey. That has been encouraging given the growing clinical interest in AI.
At Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Kathy Jenkins is the Kobren Family Chair for Safety and Quality and has spent her career as a pediatric cardiologist. She is particularly interested in how AI can be used in a pediatric cardiac environment to improve safety.
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Jenkins is currently conducting more research on the use of data in improving the quality of difficult procedures, such as those that take place in the cardiac catheterization lab.
“We took advantage of the fact that we already have a large amount of data,” Jenkins says. “These procedures are technically challenging and invasive. We’re putting catheters into hearts, taking measurements and doing interventions. It’s typically more diverse and complex than an adult procedure.”
