Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine physicians have been getting assistance with telehealth visits from an unlikely but iconic source: Barbie.
Alecia Daunter, MD, of the health system's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, started using the doll from Mattel to help her pediatric rehabilitation patients visualize how they should be moving during virtual appointments.
"The Barbie I use comes with a wheelchair and can bend at almost all of her joints," Dr. Daunter said in an April 5 news release. "She's an ideal model to help show my patients how I need them to move, flex, or extend their joints."
She and a colleague studied the new telehealth approach, comparing visits that employed Barbie versus those that didn't. Patients in the Barbie-aided encounters required less verbal prompting and reported an enhanced experience and a better understanding of what the physicians were asking, according to the March 28 study in PM&R: The Journal of Injury, Function and Rehabilitation. The appointments lasted about the same amount of time.
Dr. Daunter recommends other providers employ visual aids for virtual care.
"It doesn't necessarily have to be a Barbie doll," Dr. Daunter stated. "Other action figures or small wooden artist mannequins will have the same effect. You just need to make sure the doll has joints that can move in a way that demonstrates what is being examined.
"As telehealth becomes more prevalent, we need to adapt to make sure our patients are still receiving quality care and are at ease during their appointments."