Medical Animatics, a 3D animation company, was asked by Ohio based Nationwide Children’s Hospital to provide the technology component expertise for the hospital’s “Play It Safe” innovative educational flash game for youth. The media rich program enables children ages 6-12 to create an avatar to guide them through the various learning modules designed as games that teach safety information.
This innovative approach towards educating youth can be seen on a mobile kiosk at the hospital. The avatar navigates the child learner through exercises that demonstrate safety in places such as “My House, My Neighborhood, My School, and My Park.” This innovative multimedia approach enables youth to assume a character within the game environment as they embrace key learning objectives.
“At Nationwide Children’s Hospital we are continually investigating new educational strategies to impact child and family health. The content created by the pediatric experts at Nationwide Children’s combined with the technological talent at Medical Animatics made for a winning combination. The data we collect through the game will give us insight into effective learning and retention strategies.” said Marcie Rehmar, Director, Community Education at Nationwide Children’s.
“We are honored to be a part of this innovative approach towards educating youth about safety. The animated avatar and various other characters and crazy-zany graphical depiction of the safety adventure provides an incredible learning experience for youth, regardless of age or learning style,” said Harlon J. Wilson, Medical Animatics president and CEO. “The combination of this interactive learning game installed on a kiosk in a hospital environment provides an exceptional example of how new media technologies can impact learning just about anywhere.”
The safety education program is one of many innovative educational programs launched by Nationwide Children’s. The project was funded through an educational grant provided by Kohls Department Stores with a focus on creativity in safety education “This project required a unique combination of high end media production skills, top notch creativity, and demonstrated expertise in building custom learning applications. Medical Animatics delivered. We were excited to collaborate with Medical Animatics to bring safety education to life.” Rehmar added.
About Medical Animatics
Medical Animatics simplifies complex medical and life science concepts with new and innovative multimedia solutions. Medical Animatics specializes in 3D animation, video, interactive learning applications and web design and hosting services. The company provides end-to-end solutions for life science companies, health care providers, educational institutions, museums, and informal learning organizations. Medical Animatics’ most notable product, MyInformedChoice®, is a subscription based patient education and informed consent program that helps nationally recognized hospitals, surgery centers, and health care providers to reduce administrative costs while improving outcomes. The online applications’ state-of-the-art three dimensional animation and innovative self-paced learning environment teaches patients to about surgical treatment options, in the comfort of their own home. For more info visit www.medicalanimatics.com or write to info@medicalanimatics.com.
About Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Ranked in U.S.News & World Report’s 2010 “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals” and Parents magazine’s 2009 top 10 “Best Children’s Hospitals” lists, Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare networks providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children, adolescents and adult patients with congenital disease. A medical staff of 980 and a hospital staff of 7,200 provide state-of-the-art pediatric care for more than 930,000 patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities. Nationwide Children’s remains true to the original mission since its founding in 1892 of providing care regardless of a family’s ability to pay. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.