Video game systems in pediatric hospitals could be the future of pain management.
“Games have the ability to significantly and positively impact a child?s hospital experience,” said Ryan Sharpe, president of The Get-Well Gamers Foundation.
Sharpe?s organization works to supply children?s hospitals with video game systems and games.
When an ill child plays video games, according to Get-Well Gamers, they report less pain and take fewer pain pills. Games entertain and fascinate children by capturing their focus and not allowing them to dwell on their illnesses. Video games also have the uncanny ability to cross cultural boundaries and help form bonds between patients enduring similar situations.
“Videos get the kids to play with each other, compete, and communicate in a positive manner,” said Victor LaCour, Creative Director of Viterbi School of Engineering?s Gamepipe Laboratory. They start playing and see that “I?m not alone.”
Games also allow children an escape from their world, according to LaCour; they “get to be someone else,” if only for a moment.
Sharpe and LaCour spoke at the Games for Health conference in Baltimore this week. Researchers, health care officials and game developers converged for two days at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine to share information aboutinteractive technologies that will lead to better health care.
