A trial at the University of Washington Medicine Burn Center aims to find out if the game is more stimulating and engaging than the pain patients are experiencing.
Hospitals and health systems have been grappling with how to deal with Pokémon Go since the mobile gaming phenomenon hit earlier this summer.
Massachusetts General Hospital banned staff from playing the game on its campus, warning of possible privacy violations, and Allegheny Health Network asked the game's maker to remove all of its locations from the app.
But some hospitals are finding that there are upside to patients using Pokémon Go.
Getting Patients Out of Bed
C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI, has been urging its young patients to play the game in an effort to get them out of bed and socialize with other kids.
"It's a fun way to encourage patients to be mobile," J.J Bouchard, the hospital's digital media manager and certified child life specialist, told USA Today. "This app is getting patients out of beds and moving around."
Helping Burn Patients' Pain Management
A trial that University of Washington Medicine Burn Center researchers are conducting at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA, is looking at how playing Pokémon Go may help keep patients moving while also taking their minds off the pain.
"Our challenge is to find something that's more stimulating and engaging than pain they're experiencing, so something like virtual reality that's new or Pokémon Go that's new, it's more exciting and takes attention away from the pain," Shelley Wiechman, attending psychologist in the Burn and Pediatric Trauma Service and Pediatric Primary Care Clinic at Harborview, told the local media.
The Pokémon Go trial isn't the first time the hospital has tested augmented and virtual reality games for pain management, but it's the first that allows patients to use their legs and keep their infected areas mobile.
Weichman said if patients using the game continue to show progress, the staff may begin using Fitbits to track patients' steps.