Early exposure to pain can cause long-term changes to children’s nervous systems and make them more sensitive to it in the future. That’s why University of Toronto professor and senior scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Jennifer Stinson is developing solutions to help take their minds off the doctors, machines and needles.
Medi (medicine and engineering designing intelligence), a half-metre tall robot that greets patients and helps them feel at ease, is one digital intervention introduced to young oncology patients by Stinson, who also serves as co-director of the SickKids Centre for Pain Management, Research and Education. “I’ve always been interested in technology because young people are digital natives,” she says. “The teens I worked with in the chronic pain clinic were all using smartphones, so I thought I could harness the potential of this technology to help them better cope with pain.”
