February 21, 2008 - Philips opened the doors to its 50th Ambient Experience suite at Fairview Hospital in Cleveland, OH, the catheterization (cath) lab suite installed at Fairview, one of the hospitals in the Cleveland Clinic Health System,designed as an interactive, people-focused healthcare environment that combines design and technology for a more comfortable experience for patients and staff.
Philips’ Ambient Experience integrates architecture, design and enabling technologies, such as lighting, sound, projection and RFID, to allow patients to personalize their environment and wrap themselves in a relaxing ambience. By calming the patient, Ambient Experience aims to help procedures progress more smoothly, making the clinician’s job easier. The design also eliminates unnecessary physical barriers in the imaging suite for what the manufacturer says creates better patient and staff interaction.
Because entering the cath lab for a heart procedure can be very scary for patients, the Ambient lab was conceived on the premise of providing a positive environment for patients and healthcare professionals. Clinicians can choose the lighting and sound to create an environment such as a beach setting. The lighting reportedly makes the lab appear bigger, which helps to calm patients and alleviate feelings of claustrophobia.
Philips works with hospitals and healthcare facilities to customize Ambient design aspects around their specific desires and needs. Ambient Experience also helps set hospitals apart from their competitors – allowing them to attract and retain not only patients, but also talented professionals.
For children, Philips also provides the KittenScanner, a miniature computed tomography (CT) system that is an educational tool to help explain in a playful way how a CT scanner works. Children select a toy, place it on a miniature exam table and slide it into the KittenScanner to learn why the toy is ‘sick.’ Animation appears on a screen that shows children what doctors are looking for inside the toy and tells them a story about each one. The kid-sized scanner was designed by Philips to provide children with an opportunity to use a scanner themselves and learn how it works to help ease their minds about their own exam and assist in reducing anxiety levels.
Today, 50 hospitals have installed the Philips Ambient Experience including 31 in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, six in Asia Pacific, 11 in Europe and two in the Middle East. There are several types of Ambient Experience suites installed globally, including MR, CT, mammography, catheterization (cath) lab suites and outpatient imaging centers.
For more information: www.medical.philips.com
July 16, 2024 
