A video game to overcome the fear of anaesthesia: EZ Induction presented in the USA

By Cristiano Antonino On Jun 5, 2023

It is the prescription for children between the ages of 2 and 10 thought up by a US nurse from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Ohio

Overcoming the fear of anaesthesia with a video game

This is the recipe for children between the ages of 2 and 10 thought up by a US nurse.

She is Abby Hess and works at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, in Ohio: the American researcher has in fact invented EZ Induction, a video game in which an anaesthesia mask helps the little ones to relax when they are being prepared for surgery.

It is precisely in those moments, in fact, when surrounded by scalpels and strangers wearing masks, hats and gloves, with an anaesthesia mask hovering over one’s face in a brightly lit operating theatre, that everything looks rather scary, especially for the little ones.

“I wanted to find a way to make this experience much easier for the patients,” Abby Hess explained to the US newspaper ‘USA Today’, “and the children are really very involved and comfortable with the technology.

Studies show that the highest point of preoperative anxiety in children usually occurs just before they are brought into the operating room.

Anxiety is something Hess deals with every day

“Sometimes parents are with their children,” he added, “sometimes not, but certainly being separated can be really scary.

The research also reveals that high anxiety and negative behaviour before the operation is associated with poor postoperative outcomes such as delirium, higher reports of pain and negative behavioural changes after the children return home.

But how does the video game work?

When introducing the children to the computer application, Hess shows them how the mask connects to the tablet.

That’s when the game starts.

“The story is about a small elephant who goes to a birthday party at the zoo.

The children put on the mask and start breathing into it.

The elephant then blows up a balloon that wakes up all the animals”.

Patients can play different challenges that last less than a minute.

“If the children liked those challenges,” the nurse said, “let’s tell them that they can play another level as they walk down the corridor to the operating room and that they can only play the last level as they fall asleep while wearing the mask.

In this way, EZ Induction transforms the pre-operative experience from one of increasing anxiety and worry into a desire to play again.

“The children – concluded Abby Hess – focus on something that is fun instead of being afraid”.

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