Radiological Invention Will Improve Health Care for Children

March 11, 2004

Small patients normally do not fit into standard medical practice—young children are naturally active, making tasks as simple as performing an X-ray problematic for pediatric radiology professionals around the country.  Columbus Children’s Hospital has invented a unique device to replace the Pigg-o-stat®, a less effective apparatus currently used throughout the United States to restrain a child in an upright position for radiological examination.  The new Columbus Pediatric Radiography Board was designed to improve film quality and patient comfort.

The Columbus Board is a lightweight, stable, transparent positioning board that can accommodate many types of examinations, as well as children of a wide range of ages and sizes.  Patients are positioned once with the Columbus Board and remain in one place during the exam while equipment is moved around them for multiple film exposures. The Columbus Board provides meticulous detail in examinations. The quality of films produced by the conventional Pigg-o-stat® is inconsistent, frequently with artificial images that mimic pneumonia. 

 

The Columbus Board not only enables a more efficient exam that produces higher quality films, but is also more comfortable and visually appealing to patients and their families. A parent gently holds a child in a designated position with the Columbus Board, actively communicating with him or her to help relieve anxiety during an examination.  This system increases parental presence by allowing a parent to be an active part of the healthcare team and process.  The Pigg-o-stat® does not hurt a child but its appearance is often threatening to parents and the device can be cumbersome to radiology personnel.

 

“The consistent positive parent response that we see with the use of the Columbus Board underscores the fact that customer service goes beyond simply ‘service’ in pediatric health care and clearly is an issue of exceptional patient and family care,” said William E. Shiels, D.O., chief, Children’s Department of Radiology.  “The innovative team of technologists at Columbus Children’s identified a pediatric health care problem, created a solution and accepted a national leadership role in improving care for children.”

About Nationwide Children's Hospital

Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-24 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs, as well as prioritizing quality and safety, are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. Nationwide Children’s has a staff of more than 14,000 that provides state-of-the-art wellness, preventive and rehabilitative care and diagnostic treatment during more than 1.7 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.