Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech

Weighing In On Game Craze, Many Hospitals Say, “Pokémon, No”

July 19, 2016 By Daniel Seeger

The hugely successful Pokémon Go app has been hailed as an inadvertent boon for public health. An Augmented Reality game that gives the illusion of characters existing in the direct surroundings of a player, it requires users to travel around, often covering significant distances, to participate in even the most basic gameplay. Many healthcare facilities, however, see the game as a growing nuisance.

While some children’s hospitals are embracing Pokémon Go as a positive tool in working with their young patients, either to encourage healing mobility or simply to perk up drooping spirits, other institutions have felt obligated to actively discourage hunters of digital beasties.

(Image credit: University of Michigan Health System)

It was widely reported that Massachusetts General Hospital officials sent out a staff-wide email instructing personnel to refrain from playing the game, noting both that it was unprofessional and a potential threat to patient privacy. The latter possibility may be particularly concerning to administrators, as they’re still smarting from the recent acknowledgment that thousands of patient records were compromised in a data breach earlier this year.

Massachusetts General isn’t the only hospital closing its doors to obsessed game-players. Similar prohibitions have been put in place at medical facilities all over the U.S., from the Carolinas to Utah. Covenant HealthCare, in Saginaw, Michigan, issued a statement that read, “Our patients need their rest, and protection from germs. To ensure extraordinary care for our patients, Covenant prohibits entry into the hospital to hunt for Pokémon. Our security department and the local police have been alerted to this situation.”

Other hospitals have noted the influx of Pokémon Go players strains already limited parking areas needed for patients and their visitors. In the Quad Cities region on the Iowa-Illinois border, competitors Unity Point Health Trinity and Genesis Health System took the unusual step of issuing a joint statement that urges game participants to steer clear of their spaces.  

Tonya Marion, the Regional Vice President of Human Resources at Springfield, Missouri’s Mercy Hospital, nicely summed up the dilemma for medical facilities coast to coast. Speaking to television station KYTV, she said, “It’s a little crazy to think there are virtual monsters around, but we hope that they leave soon.”

 

Related Articles Read More >

Lazurite ArthroFree wireless surgical camera system Minnetronix Medical
How Minnetronix Medical helped Lazurite with its wireless surgical camera
Medtronic Hugo robot-assisted surgery system
The road to a robot: Medtronic’s development process for its Hugo RAS system
A portrait of Stryker executive Siddarth Satish
How Stryker includes users for product design in the digital age
A portrait of Stryker executive Tracy Robertson
Stryker leaders talk medtech trends at DeviceTalks Boston: ‘If you’re slow, you’re going to lose’

DeviceTalks Weekly.

May 13, 2022
Our Pre-Post-DeviceTalks Boston episode, also MedtronicTalks replay with Gastro CMO Austin Chiang
See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

Enewsletter Subscriptions

Enewsletter Subscriptions

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech 100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to E-newsletter
  • Attend our Monthly Webinars
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech