A GE Healthcare scanner has been wrapped in nature-themed vinyls, designed to help reduce patient anxiety and help them get through their first scan.
A first in the UK, the GE Healthcare MRI machine was covered in nature-themed vinyls to “bring the outside in” by Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where it is installed.
While patients with claustrophobia and anxiety may have to be recalled, or younger patients referred for general anaesthetic, this decorated scanner is helping reduce these worries and save patients’ lives with earlier diagnosis, Bruno Carmo, MRI service manager at Addenbrooke's, said.
‘Definitely changes the mood’
Ilse Patterson, lead research and development radiographer at Addenbrooke’s, said that getting scans completed as quickly as possible allows diagnosis and treatment to happen quicker, helping save lives.
She added: “I have worked in a few hospitals and I think there is nothing worse than walking into a hospital that looks like a hospital and smells like a hospital, it’s just not pleasant. I was on holiday when the waiting area was transformed and when I returned to work, I was amazed. It definitely changes the mood for patients.
“With the old scanner, it was narrow, it was a bit dark in that room, it was a narrow bore, it was quite old and it wasn’t very pleasant. But now it’s new, it’s light, it’s bigger, it’s got lovely pictures. Just to be able to make things a bit easier for patients, in any way we can, is a really positive thing for us.
Patients who suffer from fear of tight spaces and younger patients may find themselves intimidated by the appearance of the typical MRI scanner, which can cost thousands of pounds per scan, as it involves joining a long waiting list, booking bed, as well as general anaesthetic and theatre teams if a patient needs to be put under for the scan.
The nature-themed wraps on the GE scanner are helping patients to move past these fears with its calming, green aesthetic. The forest design has also been added to the walls of the scanner room.
(Image: Ilse Patterson and Colin Horn, copyright of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust/Media Studio)
‘It’s different, it’s beautiful, it’s friendly’
Alongside the scanners, two £30,000 audiovisual systems have also been installed for two of the department’s three scanners, meaning patients can watch videos and listen to music while being scanned.
Mr. Carmo said: “It has made a massive difference not just for staff but for patients too. Everybody who comes in to visit the department notices the environment immediately. It’s different, it’s beautiful, it’s friendly.”
He added it was “too early” to gauge the true impact of the scanner, but said an earlier three-month audit of patients found that 90 per cent reported being able to listen to music and watch videos had helped them complete their scan.
Installed at Addenbrooke's Hospital, a large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge and part of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the scanner could see other trusts introduce vinyl wrapping of diagnostic equipment in the future.
'A lot happier going through'
The work was undertaken by Grosvenor Interiors, and funded by donors and supporters of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.
Colin Horn, managing director of Grosvenor Interiors, explained that his son Adam had been diagnosed with leukaemia in 2000, at just 15 years old.
Colin said: “He had it for seven years before we lost him. He had to undergo extensive treatment along the way, including a bone marrow transplant, huge rounds of chemo, and lots of MRIs, CT scans and live X-rays. It was obvious to me that the spaces he was in made a huge difference to how he felt.
“Some spaces Adam went into, he would become more withdrawn or belligerent and in other spaces he was a lot happier going through them if they were decorated in a more age-appropriate way.”
(Image: UK’s first wrapped scanner, copyright of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust/Media Studio)