Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH is Changing the Game with State-of-the-Art Technology
Every day, young patients in Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH are transported to different parts of Tampa, like Channelside and the Riverwalk and even inside the wonders of The Florida Aquarium, from their own beds.
Welcome to the bold, technologically enhanced world available to Tampa General Hospital’s (TGH’s) pediatric population. With the help of virtual reality (VR) goggles, cutting-edge software and TGH’s skilled child life specialists, kids are experiencing a distinct decrease in anxiety as they prepare for — and undergo — myriad medical procedures.
The innovative, state-of-the-art tools are just one more way that Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH remains at the forefront of pediatric care in the Tampa Bay area and beyond, backed by the support and resources of Tampa General and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the region’s only academic health care system.
“It really distracts the kids during procedures, and helps calm them down,” says Paige Rechsteiner, a child life services coordinator at TGH.
In addition to interactive VR games, Rechsteiner explains, there’s even a meditation program that she and her team have utilized with great success. Patients are immersed in nature scenes and find themselves on a path amid reassuring imagery, with colorful leaves falling around them, butterflies fluttering and a calm voice encouraging them to take deep breaths and focus on what they see.
“It takes them out of the hospital environment for a little while and lets them reset before we have to do the typical types of procedures done in a hospital,” Rechsteiner says. “The program guides them in the meditation and even counts breaths for them.”
There’s also a VR program geared to MRIs, where a patient is placed in an enclosed tube and would normally hear a clanging sound, which can be unsettling to a child. To facilitate a more child-friendly experience, this VR program allows a child to lie down with VR goggles to view an MRI simulation ahead of time to experience what it will be like, and they will soon be able to watch movies on their goggles. The goal: to reduce the need for sedation, and help kids develop hospital coping skills over time.
The TGH Foundation has been instrumental in raising funds to make these game-changing technological additions possible, but the highly trained, compassionate team plays a vital role as well. “What makes the difference is our team and the way our specialists take technology and put it to use,” says Nikki Hurley, TGH’s senior director of Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH and the TGH Women’s Institute. “You can have the most amazing technology but if you don’t have the right people or the right implementation, it won’t be successful. This is one of the many reasons our team is so incredible.”
Tim Hill, TGH’s manager of Pediatric Rehabilitation and Child Life Services, echoes that sentiment and underscores another benefit. “We know that making the environment more child-friendly and more relaxed has huge benefits,” he says. “There’s a growing body of research that shows the child-life interventions can reduce anxiety and the perception of pain. These interventions also allow the medical team to stay focused on what they are doing, which can reduce procedure times.
Hill is also excited about TGH’s partnership with The Florida Aquarium, where a child is able to view underwater worlds from their hospital bed thanks to a remote-controlled robot. “We hope to grow that program in size, and even partner with other community organizations to provide similar virtual experiences,” he says. “We have the technology in place.”
And that technology continues to set Tampa General and Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH apart from the pack.
*Presented by TGH | Originally published in the August 2025 issue of Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine.