Pain-Free Treatment – The Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital
Pain-Free Treatment – The Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital
At the Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital at Sheba, we provide our young patients with comprehensive, compassionate healthcare that aims to prevent or alleviate suffering, pain, or discomfort throughout their entire hospital experience.
To accomplish this, our team custom tailors each pediatric treatment program to suit the child’s age, developmental stage, and attitude towards hospitalization. Additionally, we consider parental involvement, because parents are a vital part of the pain relief process – an essential component in helping to create a calm, secure atmosphere to envelop the child.
Our friendly team combines a wide array of pharmacological, psychological and other methods to achieve the goal of being a “hospital without pain.” Most importantly, we listen closely to each child’s needs and wants, connecting on a deeper level.

What makes our approach to caring for children so unique?
The Safra Hospital is equipped with a modern variety of technologies and techniques to promote the best possible pain-free hospital experience for kids. All treatments are performed with compassion and a gentle, friendly touch. Some techniques that we implement:
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) glasses are a new and wonderful way to distract children’s attention from the medical procedures, soothing both fear and pain. For example, while undergoing a blood test, children can wear virtual reality glasses that transport their focus to a totally different place, creating a more pleasant experience.
VR goggles can be used for blood tests, stitches, fractures and more. Once the procedure is finished, many kids are surprised to discover it’s over, because they never even noticed that the medical process had started.
Watch this young boy experience a different reality as he is prepped for a blood test:
Pain Management
The motto of our medical team highlights the value of reducing pain, suffering and anxiety in children who come to Sheba Medical Center for treatment. We take great care to give the appropriate anesthetic and sedation to make our young patients comfortable and at ease. Some of our strategies include:
- Local anesthetic creams are applied prior to setting up an infusion or making an incision, promoting as painless a procedure as possible.
- Laughing gas is used when suitable, because it acts quickly and is associated with a rapid recovery.
- Expert anesthesiologists determine the right type and quantity of anesthesia to be given before prolonged operations.
- Relaxation tools and methods are used, such as virtual reality goggles.
- The child’s pain is constantly assessed in order to make medication adjustments, as needed.
- Medical clowns help to relieve children’s fear, reducing their discomfort.
Medical Clowns
For more than a decade, medical clowns have been operating in almost all of the wards at the Safra Children’s Hospital (and in other wards at Sheba, too!). These clowns do much more than look and act funny; they are an integral part of the treatment team. Their job is to reduce a child’s anxiety and pain, promoting an easier and more efficient experience for the patient, the family, and the medical staff.
How do the clowns help? By using distraction strategies, play and humor. Clowns implement a wide variety of techniques, creating a world of fantasy and role-playing – a world dictated by the child’s imagination. Each clown adapts his or her toolbox sensitively to fit the specific patient’s needs, preferences and situation.
At Sheba, our clowns participate in more than 40 different medical procedures, such as taking blood samples, accompanying patients to surgery, giving injections and staying by the side of children who require tests because they have suffered sexual abuse.
The clowns work as a part of the “Dream Doctors” project. They are experienced artists and actors who have undergone a high level of professional training in medical clowning. Many of them have developed specializations for various units, such as oncology, child development and more.
Learn all about the beneficial activities of medical clowns:
Designed for Kids
The Safra Children’s Hospital is designed with children in mind. Bright and cheerful murals lead patients through the corridors, a music room uses the power of sound to boost moods, a cinema room ensures quality entertainment, unique playgrounds are built into the ward, medical clowns bring smiles, and we offer free gifts for birthdays and other significant events.
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Sheba Medical Center provides innovative, personalized medical care to patients from around the world. We are the largest, most comprehensive hospital in the Middle East and dedicated to providing advanced and compassionate medicine for everyone.
We welcome all cases, including the rarest and the most challenging. Our medical teams collaborate to provide the best possible health outcomes. From your initial inquiry through the long-term follow-up care, we are here for you.
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