One trend that emerged while researching MobiHealthNews' most recent report, 205 Hospital-branded apps for patients, was that children's hospitals are far and away the most creative and ambitious of healthcare providers in the United States using mobile apps for patient engagement.

Of the more than 200 apps now available in appstores from hospitals for patients, about 17 percent come from a children's hospital. That's 34 apps.

Apps from children's hospitals sometimes mirrored offerings from any other institution -- trackers, locations, directories, and so on. More often than not, however, children's hospital apps were more fun and creative. Clearly a larger percentage of this group's patient population is likely to be engaged by games than those who are a part of an older patient population. Still, other healthcare facilities looking to apps as a patient engagement tool need to pay attention to what children's hospitals are doing. They might learn quite a bit.

To help illustrate the type of apps that children's hospitals are currently offering their patients, MobiHealthNews has put together the slideshow below, which includes a sampling of just 10 of those 34 children's hospital apps we include in our recent research report. To read more about these and all of the other patient-facing apps developed by hospitals, be sure to buy your copy of our hospital apps report in the MobiHealthNews Research Store.

Check out our slideshow below: 

Burn Journey by Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, IN

The burn center at the hospital teamed up with the Child Life Program to develop this app. It aims to help kids learn about bandage changes and the operating room experience by familiarizing them with the the places, procedures, people and equipment they might encounter while at the hospital. The app also includes some games.