What is scary to a child, monsters under the bed or in a closet? How about the first day in a new school? Performing in a school play in front of an audience? As a father of three children, I can tell you that a trip to the emergency room is scary, both for the parent AND the child. Removing fear for a child isn’t always easy and it can be even more difficult when the trip is to an emergency room for treatment. It may be an x-ray for a broken arm or the necessity of having stitches put in. I even had to take our son in once for a Styrofoam pellet that lodged in his ear (yup, true story). There can be any number of reasons to have to visit the emergency room but, with all of the doctors and nurses and people in the waiting room it can be frightening. Doctors and nurses have always had to find ways to distract young patients so they can administer tests and treatments. I know I had to hold my children still and try to talk to them so shots could be given, not a fun task since I knew it was hurting them (my wife always wound up being the good guy and hero for the rest of the day). Other distractions that are sometimes used by healthcare professionals are books, candy, and toys. Now, i-pads and computer tablets are being used to distract children during hospital visits to make trips a little easier. The trick for the medical providers is to ensure these medical devices don’t get lost or stolen. i-pad theft has been an issue in schools and from patient’s in hospitals so there is no reason to believe they could not be stolen from an emergency room or children’s hospital. One way to prevent this from happening is to use an Alpha Thunder Tag on tablets and i-pads and install Checkpoint Classic N10 antennas at entrances.
An Alpha Thunder Tag is attached to an i-pad or tablet by an adhesive backing on the tag itself. Tamper proof protection in the tag prevents it from being removed in an attempt to steal the mobile device. If someone tries to remove the tag an internal alarm in the Alpha Thunder Tag sounds a sharp, piercing alert that lets staff know a tag is being removed. When the Classic N10 antennas are installed at entrances and exits, they can pick up the radio frequency of a tag being carried into the range of the antennas. The antenna then sounds an alarm and built in LED lights flash. Workers are able to respond and recover mobile devices in the event of an i-pad theft or tablet theft attempt.
So how are the i-pads and tablets being used for children in hospitals? In an article titled, “i-pads in the ER: Using Gadgets to Make a Hospital Trip Less Scary” in Sciencelife from the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences, August 13, 2012 by Matt Wood, quoting Chelsea Cress, MS, CCLS, a child life specialist from the Child Life and Family Education Department at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital; “We know that kids can use their imaginations to take them to a place that most grownups can’t,” she said. “Using the iPad really helps them cope with procedures better and forget about what’s happening at the hospital.” In an August 27, 2013 story on stonybrookchildren’s.org website, a story on a donation of four i-pads being donated to the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital by the Starlight Children’s Foundation states, “The tablets will serve more than 27,000 Tri-State area pediatric patients per year and meet the evolving needs of hospitals and children through education, distraction and the healing power of play.”
With i-pads and tablets playing such a critical part in the patient care of children, it is that much more important to take steps to protect these mobile devices. Installing the Classic N10 antennas and attaching an Alpha Thunder Tag to prevent tablet or i-pad theft will ensure the devices are available to young patients for years to come.
Get more information on Alpha Thunder Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
