Patient-centered Application

Pengunaut Trainer – A Playful VR App for Kids to Prepare for MRI Examinations

An MRI scan is a painless, non-invasive way to look inside the human body. However, the confinement of the tube, the loud noises, and the need to lie still can be stressful for many people. Children, in particular, often react with fear, stress, and restlessness. For this reason, it is sometimes necessary to sedate patients to ensure good image quality and, consequently, an accurate diagnosis—which, unfortunately, is a complex process and not without risk. The Pingunauten Trainer is a virtual reality app for smartphones that prepares children for an MRI scan in a playful way. Step by step and through mini games, children explore a realistic virtual examination room and practice lying still and calm while experiencing a virtual MRI scan. The goal of the Pingunauten Trainer is to eliminate the need for sedation or anesthesia and to ensure and improve the children’s well-being during the examination. A comprehensive clinical study conducted at the University Hospital Essen and the Amsterdamer Straße Children’s Hospital in Cologne (Liszio et al., 2020), along with overwhelmingly positive feedback from patients, parents and nursing staff, confirms that the Pingunauten Trainer can significantly reduce fear of MRI examinations.