A game to feel better
Virtual reality gaming experience designed to reduce pain perception and anxiety in hospitalized pediatric patients (8-12 years old) undergoing stressful medical procedures, especially in oncology, dentistry and orthopedics.
TOMMI by Softcare Studios consists of 4 gaming activities occurring on a magic island within a fantasy setting, designed based on the feedback collected from doctors, caregivers and young patients in order to deal with the great variety of conditions occurring in the hospital setting and select the ones to prioritize during the patients’ journey. Most of the gaming activities are expected to be played by the children alone, one is designed as a collaborative experience involving both children and their caregivers aiming to support social cohesion and communication in the challenging clinical setting. TOMMI has been selected as the best e-health project in Europe by the European Commission in 2018 during the European Startup Awards, and awarded with several prizes such as the Hack4Health hackathon by Merck (Rome, 2016) and the Pfizer Healthcare Challenge (Berlin, 2018).
How does it work
The stressful conditions experienced by pediatric patients in hospitals (triggered by pain, anxiety and social isolation) are recognized risk factors for poor adherence to therapy, worse quality of patients’ experience and reduced work efficiency of the medical staff. TOMMI is designed to reduce pain and anxiety experienced by children through the immersive distraction enabled by virtual reality and the engagement offered by gaming mechanics tailored to the specific target patients, providing a digital, drug-free and non-invasive solution for stress management in the hospital setting.
TOMMI has been designed around the real need of target patients in the selected clinical setting. The specific context of application guided the design process towards choices based on the evaluation of the patients’ profiles, protecting their frailties and maximizing their potentialities in order to promote better health outcomes and quality of care. The unique experience collected in hospitals contributed to the development of an effective application protocol, defining how to use TOMMI based on the patients’ conditions and the specific moment of the patient’s journey. The resulting impact of TOMMI derives from the convergence of the immersive content and its evidence-based application protocol performed by trained health operators.
TOMMI is already on the market, used in 10+ hospitals in Italy and 1 hospital in the USA (UTHealth School of Dentistry in Houston), undergoing 5 clinical pilots to collect qualitative and quantitative data to better describe the product’s impact on the patients’ therapy experience and the work of the medical staff. Based on the experience matured during the last 5 years, new products are under development dedicated to immersive stress management in adult and elder patients.
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