Singapore debuts Ambient Experience to relax heart patients
A "patient" choosing the Australia theme, one of 10 currently available in the Ambient Experience suite of the National Heart Centre Singapore's cardiac catheterization laboratory. (Credit: Philips)
Cardiac patients undergoing procedures at the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) from today may find themselves either immersed in a Disney World setting or the African Savannah with accompanying audio playing in the background. This is part of a testbed project by the center involving Philips' Ambient Experience to soothe patients through the intimidating clinical process of preparation, examination, treatment and post procedure.
The Ambient Experience takes patients on a multimedia ride that lets them personalize the lighting, projected images and sounds in the examination or lab room. The 10 themes can be selected via a menu on a wireless touchscreen tablet, with more themes on the way. Once picked, the patient's choice is projected on the walls, ceilings and through TV screens, wrapping the user in a multi-sensorial setting of his or her own choosing.
So far, this appears to have had a positive impact on the three patients who earlier sampled the Ambient Experience. According to 75-year-old Neo Bee who was at the cardiac catheterization laboratory to have angioplasty done to open her blocked arteries, "I saw birds and kangaroos on the ceiling and there was soothing music, too. I felt calm and relaxed".
The wireless TouchScreen lets the patient instantaneously personalize the room's "theme". (Credit: Philips)
Besides the fun aspect, associate professor Koh Tian Hai, the medical director of NHCS, said the center opted to implement this as part of the "holistic experience" to help patients through a highly stressful procedure that can range from half an hour to sometimes 5 hours, depending on the complexity.
Singapore joins three other Asia cities now using ambient lighting and music to create a warm and personal setting that takes patients out of a cold, sterile room. The other three hospitals are Kobe Children's Hospital in Hyogo Perfecture, Apollo Health City in Hyderabad, India, and Phyathai II Hospital in Bangkok.
To date, over 125 other medical establishments have installed Philips' mood lighting solution, with one hospital in Chicago reporting a 28 percent reduction in sedation for children under age four, and 16 percent reduction for those below age 18 over a four-year period.
At NHCS, only one of the four cardiac catheterization laboratories will have the Ambient Experience in place, with no plans as yet to extend this to the rest. So if you're a heart patient at the center, it'll be down to a Russian roulette of lab schedules and timing. But it's a start, heralding a change in the care cycle that patients in this region will receive.
The Jungle theme gets a tryout by the media and NHCS. (Credit: Philips)
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