Going into hospital can be worrying and upsetting even for adults. But that feeling of anxiety is inevitably worse when it’s a child facing a stay in hospital, no matter how short it might be.

That’s why doctors and nurses have learnt to adjust their approaches when they are dealing with children. It helps the child to feel more at ease, less worried and more confident during their stay.

However, hospitals and healthcare facilities, by their very nature, are sterile environments, and that makes them less than ideal when it comes to reassuring children. The smell of the healthcare facility and all the medical equipment can be overwhelming enough for a child, and that’s before the reality of the situation has even had time to sink in.

But what if there was a way to create a positive distraction for children while they’re in hospital? Perhaps a standard piece of hospital equipment that’s been specifically designed to make children feel more comfortable.

Now there is…

StoryPanels™ by Silentia offer a new way to provide children with a more positive and playful atmosphere while they are in a healthcare facility, by placing medical equipment in the background and colourful pictures of planets and funny figures in the foreground.

They say that art boasts many stress-reducing abilities and studies have shown that pictures can influence well-being and relieve patient pain and stress, which is why StoryPanels™ have been designed the way they have.

Available in three planet designs: planets only; planets with illustrations for younger children (1-5 years old); and planets with illustration for older children (6 years and up), StoryPanels™ were created to reduce the clinical look and feel of hospitals and healthcare facilities.

‘A Positive Psychological Effect’

They provide an excellent talking point for healthcare professionals to reference while they are talking with children who find themselves in a clinical environment. Even though the child is away from home and among unfamiliar faces, the nearby StoryPanels™ provide new and positive focus.

The child will start using his or her fantasy and imagination, distracting them from their immediate surroundings.

Silentia StoryPanels™ haven’t just been designed with images and pictures that might appeal to children in mind, however. They’ve actually been created based on research and experience, and the colours, shapes and funny figures “all have a purpose in order to give a positive psychological effect, a calm feeling and to stimulate the imagination,” according to Stefanie Schöffmann, the Austrian designer who developed the StoryPanels’ design for Silentia.

Children can look at StoryPanels™ while they are sitting up or lying down, and close up or from a distance. That’s what makes them so beneficial in paediatric clinical environments. Seeing their child distracted from the situation facing them and forgetting about their condition for a while is priceless to worried parents, who may also lose themselves for a moment in StoryPanels’ design.

As with all privacy screens from Silentia, StoryPanels™ help to reduce the spread of healthcare-acquired infections (HCAIs); improve sound attenuation; and provide patients with privacy and dignity during their stay.

Silentia privacy screens are versatile, cost effective and aesthetically pleasing, which makes them an excellent alternative to the traditional hospital privacy curtain.

About Silentia:

• 20 years experience supplying privacy screens
• End-to-end services from design to delivery
• Screens used across healthcare facilities
• Flexible market uses