Snorkel makes surgery calmer for kids: anesthesia mask mixes music, video games, and choice of colors. (Cover Story/Medical Design).(Design Continuum, Geoffrey Hart design medical device)

Design News, September, 2002 by Ames, Benjamin B.

If you think designing for adults is difficult, try making a medical device for Li three- to nine-year olds. Philadelphia anesthesiologist Geoffrey A. Hart saw how terrified kids became when wrapped in a cocoon or papoose to be sedated for operations. So he envisioned a friendlier solution. His pediatric sedation device has been almost ten years in the making and has undergone numerous design revisions.

PediSedate[TM] resembles a simple headset for listening to a Sony Walkman. But the translucent blue device has not one sharp edge. It looks as smooth and friendly as the candy gummy bears it's patterned after. In addition, it hooks up to a child's Nintendo Game Boy or CD player so that a young patient can play with something familiar while breathing...

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