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Teddy bears as patients: Children discover the hospital in Vienna!
Hundreds of children visit the Teddy Bear Hospital in Vienna to overcome fears of visiting the doctor. Open until December 5th.
Teddy bears as patients: Children discover the hospital in Vienna!
On Tuesday, hundreds of children flocked to the Vienna Teddy Bear Hospital, a special event organized by MedUni Vienna together with the Austrian Students' Association (AMSA), the Vienna Medical Association and the Academic Association of Austrian Pharmacists. This “special hospital” opened its doors in the run-up to Christmas to allay the fear of doctor visits among young visitors. The hospital will be open to young patients until Thursday, December 5th. In so-called “outpatient clinics”, assistant doctors examined and “operated” on their favorite cuddly toys, dolls or teddy bears, which gave the children a playful introduction to dealing with medical situations.
The “Teddy Docs”, medical students from MedUni Vienna who look after the children and their “patients”, are particularly committed. This simulates a real hospital environment; there is an admission ward, an emergency room, a dental clinic and even operating rooms. According to Johannes Steinhart, President of the Chamber of Physicians in Vienna, this also gives children the opportunity to carry out exciting examinations such as ECGs or computer tomography scans. The attraction, which takes place once a year, reaches its 21st edition this year. School classes were already registered in the morning, while spontaneous participation with your own teddy bear is possible in the afternoon.
Interdisciplinary care in pediatrics
The importance of such initiatives is underlined by the commitment of the Pediatric Center at MedUni Vienna, where the focus is on interdisciplinary collaboration for the care of complex and chronically ill children and adolescents. While the Teddy Bear Hospital is designed to be child-friendly, the medical foundation is geared towards highly specialized care. With the motto “Specialists for children” we are actively involved in the training of future doctors. In 2023, the center published a total of 398 articles and is at the forefront of pediatric research in Europe, according to the MedUni Vienna report.