X-boxes used as therapeutic devices for dialysis patients.

[rwingo]

This has to be one of the more unusual sources for healthcare IT news...

Gamezone.com has an article/interview on Dr. Arun Mathews and his "Hospital-based Online Pediatric Environment" project:

“The overall vision for HOPE is to be the first high-speed inter-hospital gaming network in the country”

The program is called HOPE, which stands for Hospital-based Online Pediatric Environment. It is an experiment at the medical center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to try to create an environment in the pediatric dialysis unit in which patients are not merely laying in bed for treatments, but rather are involved in something enjoyable while undergoing necessary treatment.

The program outline describes this as “a network that allows pediatric inpatients the ability to meet with, relate to and, most importantly, play games with other patients in hospitals around the country. By kindling the spirit of sports, adventure, and community, HOPE allows children with various ailments to understand that they are not alone, and that they truly are heroes.”

The HOPE homepage has more information about the project, including this quote:

Preliminary data suggests that the communal environment fostered by these online communities may be used as a non-therapeutic adjunct for the treatment of depression, effectively creating a new, innovative psychosocial support mechanism.