A plan to use virtual reality to distract paediatric patients during medical treatment has won an incentive award.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Edison program was started by the Murrumbidgee Local Health District this year to support staff implement their “bright ideas” to improve patient care.
Shane Delves, the MLHD’s district telehealth manager, came up with a plan to use virtual reality headsets to distract paediatric patients with entertaining videos before and during procedures.
Sonia McMullen, senior rehabilitation physiotherapist at Wagga Base Hospital received an Edison award for her development of a video to help patients after amputation.
The other finalists were: Sally McMahon, the Wagga Base Hospital rehabilitation services co-ordinator, for a rehabilitation patient education film, Wagga midwife Janine Sutton for an online antenatal booking system, and Denyse Buttriss, the Young mental health and drug and alcohol consumer advocate, for the mental health walking group in Young.
The applicants were given five minutes to present their ideas in front of 100 staff at a recent district forum and convince the judges why their project deserved to take home the $1000 prize.
The Edison project is open to all staff who have developed small-scale projects which would benefit from seed funding to provide new health resources.
Two application rounds are held each year, with 12 applications received in the latest round.
“The Edison Program is an innovative way we can enable them to develop, plan and implement their suggestions for the benefit of our patients and clients,” MLHD chief executive Jill Ludford said.
