Pokemon Go or No in hospital?

While one children’s hospital is using Pokemon Go to encourage patients to get up and go, another is posting warnings saying people may not enter into the ED simply to hunt down Pokémon.
C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan is using the popular game to get kids out of their rooms so they can exercise and be social with other young patients.

“It’s a fun way to encourage patients to be mobile,” J.J Bouchard, digital media manager and certified child life specialist at C.S. Mott, told USA Today. “This app is getting patients out of beds and moving around.”

The hospital has also discovered that the game has another perk – it pushes kids to get more involved with their physical therapy.
“If I’m trying to get a kid to raise his arms up or squat down, I can say, ‘Hey [that Pokemon is] a little bit lower, can you reach down and get him?’” Bouchard told University of Michigan Health System .“And that’s just a really tricky way that physical therapy or occupational therapy can get a kid to do the exercises that he was screaming and crying about five minutes ago.”
On the flipside, Managers of Royal Stoke University Hospital were horrified to discover that their A&E department had become a “gym” for the augmented reality creatures, causing players to enter the unit in order to “train” their characters.
Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital [RCH] has asked that well-meaning Pokémon Go players refrain from dropping Pokéstop Lures around its buildings.
A number of Trainers have taken to Facebook groups all around the world with the charitable suggestion. In theory, it’s a great idea: a Lure, placed on a hospital-based Pokéstop, draws more Pokémon to that area. Any Trainers that can access the Pokéstop benefit from an increased number of Pokémon to therefore catch.
In reality things are more complicated, as a response from the hospital itself explains.
“Patients at the RCH are among the sickest in Victoria,” a spokesperson from the Royal Children’s Hospital told Stevivor.
“Unfortunately, Pokémon Go can create many challenging issues, as well as safety concerns, for the hospital and patients, and may impede medical staff in their work.
“We have lots of entertainment and distractions for our patients, who are confined to wards and unable to move about the hospital. Placing lures around the hospital, when children cannot leave their rooms, may create unrealistic expectations, and subsequently, much disappointment.”
Simply put, a Pokéstop just out of a child’s reach will have the opposite effect the well-intended Trainer was hoping for.
 
References:
Hospital uses Pokemon Go to get kids to do physical therapy. The Huffington Post. 21 July 2016.
Hospital issues warning after becoming Pokemon Go hotspot. The Telegraph UK. 18 July 2016.
Pokemon Go: The Royal Children's Hospital asks that trainers don't drop Pokestop lures. Stevivor. 2016