June 8, 2026: The Disney Corporation partners with Phillips to give kids going through the MRI process a different experience.
Hospital visits are daunting for adults. Imagine being a child, a group of adult strangers surrounding you as they put you in a large, loud cocoon-like device, telling you to relax. Stressful is an understatement.
Fortunately, Disney, in partnership with technology company Phillips, has created a solution to make these hospital visits not only tolerable, but an almost pleasant experience.
Few studies have truly measured discomfort in adolescents undergoing an MRI. Ultimately, nothing conclusively shows that children suffer more anxiety, and the number diminishes significantly as technology improves. MRIs are less noisy as they have been historically, and more children seem to get a basic grasp of the procedure once it’s explained to them.
Disney and Phillips’ collaboration seems to be another step in the evolution of allowing children to feel more comfort as they go in for diagnostic tests. Ultimately, the point is to ensure children don’t feel as if their discomfort is disregarded, something that has the potential to lead to higher spikes in anxiety.
According to Emilio J. Inarejos Clemente from Sant Joan de Deu Hospital’s Department of Diagnostic Imaging says, “The data showed that a child-friendly audio-visual intervention reduced stress levels in young children and decreased scan disruptions, supporting a smoother MRI workflow.”
An independent study conducted across six European hospitals highlighted a significant decrease in pre-procedure anxiety after the scan. According to this study, when the Disney/Phillips “Ambient Experience” became available for patients between the ages of 6-10, their stress levels reduced by 43%.
This collaboration is one in a long-standing desire to make MRIs less stressful overall. Less time, less strain on the patient — this is has been the goal for Phillips for some time. With their dedicated $100 million across 1,700 children’s hospitals, Phillips has been able to ensure their Ambient Experience will aid in the fight to make these hospital visits as stress-free as possible.
With the power of empathy and storytelling, those who care about the wellbeing of children have been able to ensure even visits to the hospital are less intimidating. Children have an incredible amount of resiliency, and are often blessed with more bravery than the most boastful adult. This partnership is just one showcase of how we as the caregivers can ensure children come away from these experiences with greater knowledge and less wariness about the world around them.
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