At-home pre-surgery education for children facing surgical procedures.
*All Illustrations done by Valerie Ng
Sponsored by
Our innovative project combines common medical tools with an interactive egg to enhance at-home education for surgical preparation. The symbolic egg hatching at the hospital fosters positive anticipation. With a gamified approach using cards and an augmented reality (AR) app, our kit specifically targets child and parental anxiety. By empowering children and supporting pre-surgery education, we aim to meet a unique market need and align with the mission of child-life therapists.
Group Project
Skills
Valerie Ng
Meredith Renaud
Hope Raker
User Research | Physical Prototyping
Overview Video
*Edited by me and Hope Rakers; last 37s edited by Valerie Ng
Project Components
Reduce fear of the unknown
Familiarize children with the interactions and functions of common medical equipment.
Anesthesia Mask
Free Play
Educating children through fun storyboards.
Sense of Control
Easily transportable. Child-sized to give the child a sense of control over the kit.
Guided Play
Builds bond between child and dragon through AR. Educates parents with direct communication with hospital.
IV Drip
Stethoscope
Giving the child option
Smart kit, dumb egg, for ease of hatching and prevent the interference with the actual medical equipment.
Background Research
Emotions of Children Pre-Surgery
Surgery can be a traumatic experience for children, especially because they may not fully understand what is happening to them. By educating them about the process and what to expect before, during, and after surgery, they can feel more empowered and in control of their situation.
Opportunities
Education Pre-Surgery
While there are child- life therapists like Ashley to educate children in the hospital, but she is only one person, and can only do so much.
Medical Play
It would be wonderful to have more education before going to the hospital.
"
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Ashley McGee, Child-Life Therapist
Medical Play is a great teaching method that helps children understand the process to lessen their fears
1. Teach children about their surgery through play
2. Allow children to play “doctor” to better understand their experience and how they view their situation
*All illustration done by Valerie Ng
Research group-effort
Ms. Martin, Child-Life Therapist
"
Play is how children communicate, understand their surroundings, and express themselves.
"
Concept & Ideation
Concepts
*Group Effort
Brainstorming
*All by me
"Hatch your buddy", "Wellness Surprise Gift Box", and "Educational Treasure Box At Home" have been chose by the team to combine for out product concept.
A kit containing common medical equipment that interacts with an egg that hatches in the hospital.
The steps of caring for the egg are done at home and help educate and normalize scary medical equipment before their surgery.
Product Concept
Prototyping & Testing
Goals - Magical Experience
"Dumb" Egg
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Avoids electronics and on the egg itself that might interfere with medical equipment.
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More robust & allow hatching
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Cheaper for manufacturing
"Smart" Equipment
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Every piece of equipment should have a tangible effect on the egg
Magic of the Egg
Optical Fiber - Side Emitting
Used as a means to contain and transmit light over short or long distances.
Why?
Avoids electronics on the egg and creates magical experience through illumination
Stethoscope
IV Drip
Anesthesia Mask
Initial Prototype
Final Prototype Building
Building Final Prototype
How it Works
Child and guardian go to the initial doctor’s visit.
Child picks out doctor kit color after the initial appointment.
Child and guardian leave initial appointment with the chosen kit.
Once home, child opens the kit to find an egg, medical equipment, and instructional cards.
Using the app, the child and guardian can check on the egg to see what is wrong.
The child uses the medical equipment in the kit to doctor the egg.
Using the app, the child and guardian can check on the egg again. The child discovers that their actions helped the egg.
The child can use the cards to see how to interact with the egg and learn more about the equipment.
The child and guardian return to the hospital on the day of the surgery with the doctor’s kit and egg.
The child places the egg in a special base and waits for the egg to hatch in the pre-op room.
The egg hatches to reveal a stuffed dragon that the child can hold during the rest of the procedure.
The child leaves the hospital healthy after surgery with their stuffed dragon.
User Testing
Testing Setup
A user enters the room and sees abstracted versions of each piece of equipment along with informational cards. They are encouraged to play with the equipment and speak their thoughts aloud. They were also interviewed after the testing about their experience.
Hypothesis
If we use optical fibers to create connections between medical equipment and the egg, then the interactions will feel magical and encourage play.
Data Collection
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Time it takes to find intended interaction
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Number of "incorrect" tires
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General observation
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Subject feedback from interaction
Questions:
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Do users know where the equipment goes on the egg?
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Ex. putting the mask on where it should be
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Do users understand how each artifact works?
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Ex. the mask makes them fall asleep
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Does the interaction and responses make sense?
User Feedback
Egg
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6/7 of the users wanted more feedback from the egg (sound, light changes, etc.)
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Could do a more intricate pattern
The slots to fit things in should stand out more from the pattern (it's not immediately obvious right now) -
Different LED colors (clear up connections confusion)
Medical Equipment
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One of the most common feedback was that the interactions were too similar for the LEDs despite having 3 objects with 3 completely different interactions.
Cards
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Cards only tell how to interact with egg, not how it interacts in real life (storyboard on egg)
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Make it clear that the egg will hatch (at the hospital)
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Cards are a little too wordy and reading them too much takes away from the experience.
How it Works
The child places the egg in a special base and waits for the egg to hatch in the pre-op room.
The egg hatches to reveal a stuffed dragon that the child can hold during the rest of the procedure.
The child leaves the hospital healthy after surgery with their stuffed dragon.
The child and guardian return to the hospital on the day of the surgery with the doctor’s kit and egg.
The child can use the cards to see how to interact with the egg and learn more about the equipment.
Using the app, the child and guardian can check on the egg again. The child discovers that their actions helped the egg.
Child and guardian go to the initial doctor’s visit.
Child picks out doctor kit color after the initial appointment.
Child and guardian leave initial appointment with the chosen kit.
Once home, child opens the kit to find an egg, medical equipment, and instructional cards.
Using the app, the child and guardian can check on the egg to see what is wrong.
The child uses the medical equipment in the kit to doctor the egg.