Animations to explain intensive care treatments for East Kent Hospitals patients

ICU animation

Families whose loved ones need treatment in intensive care can now access easy-to-understand animations explaining some of the procedures and interventions they may experience.

East Kent Hospitals has signed up to explainmyprocedure.com, an award-winning website hosting short animations developed by medical staff with input from patients and families.

They explain procedures such as ventilation and Covid-19 treatments in simple terms, and are available in a range of languages.

Vanessa Purday, consultant anaesthetist and clinical director for surgery and anaesthetics at East Kent Hospitals, said: “This is a fantastic recent initiative developed by cardiologist Professor David Wald at Barts Health.

“I’m delighted that our intensive care team have worked hard to introduce it.

“The animations will help families feel more informed about their relative’s treatment and will add reassurance at a time when visiting is restricted because of the pandemic.

“We are pleased to have this valuable resource to share with relatives and friends and I hope it will help people feel less anxious because they will understand more about some of the treatments we offer in our intensive care units.”

Explainmyprocedure.com has been shown to improve understanding among patients before they consent to medical or surgical procedures.

It was developed after Professor Wald and his team found less than a third of patients felt they fully understood their procedure before they signed their consent form.

Links to the site are now included in information given to families when their loved one is admitted to the unit.

To view the animations, visit explainmyprocedure.com/ekhufticu