little NIRVANA

Comfort Care for Children

Procedural comfort care is not new, but it is receiving increasing attention. And rightly so: by applying comfort care, we can prevent or reduce trauma and stress in children during medical procedures. Little NIRVANA is an innovative solution that helps children, parents and caregivers have a positive experience during medical procedures. Building trust is key to this.

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What is procedural comfort care for children?

With needle procedures and other medical procedures, it is important to prevent or reduce pain, stress and anxiety in children as much as possible. After all, children are not little adults: they experience procedures differently and have their own ways of dealing with them (coping strategies). A child-centred approach is therefore needed, tailored to the child’s age, personality and developmental level. Comfort care helps to reassure children and reduce their anxiety and perception of pain. To support healthcare providers and parents in providing comfort care, we developed two e-learnings together with UZ Leuven and PXL hogeschool;

How does little NIRVANA support procedural care in children?

Little NIRVANA offers tools based on game technology that prepare and distract children in a playful and multisensory way. This keeps children in control and builds confidence. Moreover, an ‘open’ visualisation technology is used (the children can see the environment), maintaining visual and auditory communication between the child and the caregiver. Little NIRVANA facilitates this contact between child and caregiver by creating a safe shared virtual world in which there are all kinds of things to experience together. Little NIRVANA’s tools can also be combined well with local anaesthesia or other comfort measures.

Want to know what little NIRVANA can do for your hospital or practice? Feel free to contact us.

Central to little NIRVANA: Milo

Milo – the bird – is the central figure in little NIRVANA who takes the child into his magical world.

Little NIRVANA's toolkit

The little NIRVANA team developed an interactive and multisensory toolkit to reduce anxiety and tension in children during medical procedures. Our approach is based on the latest insights into comfort care and several proven psychological principles such as:

Contact with Environment Possible through AR

Little NIRVANA uses Augmented Reality (AR) in which digital images and information are added to the real world. Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), it maintains contact with the environment, such as parents and caregivers.

Touchpoints with the Toolkit

Before the Procedure

An app with breathing exercises and distraction in the waiting room.

During the Procedure

An immersive AR experience that actively engages and distracts the child.

After the Procedure

A home app for aftercare, so the child can look forward to the next treatment with confidence.

Medical procedures (applications) in which little NIRVANA can be used.

little NIRVANA Needle

This toolkit supports children during needle procedures, such as blood sampling, IV placement or vaccinations.

Contents of the toolkit:

App for in the waiting room
Magic wand for breathing exercises and scent perception
Screen with hologram or (alternatively) AR glasses
Home app for aftercare
Laptop with the little NIRVANA Needle software and a dashboard for caregivers

little NIRVANA Dental

During dental treatments.

Contents of the toolkit:

Do you have questions about procedural comfort care with or without little NIRVANA?

In which languages is little NIRVANA available?

Currently, little NIRVANA is available in 5 languages: Flemish, Dutch, French, English and Estonian. However, the number of languages available is constantly being extended.

As a care provider or user, do I need (technological) (pre)knowledge to use little NIRVANA?

No, you need no prior knowledge. Little NIRVANA is very user-friendly and requires minimal training for health care providers and no training at all for the user.

Does a medical procedure or treatment take longer by using little NIRVANA?

Results show that the duration of the procedure – even when used for the first time – is not affected by using little NIRVANA. With repeated procedures, it is likely that time can be saved because there may be less need for additional (psychological and/or pharmacological) support.