The Benefits of Digital Signage In Healthcare
Digital signage is undoubtedly one of the most integral technologies in the business world. It offers numerous benefits that reflect across all industries, including the healthcare industry.
At first glance, it might look like digital signage is not a vital addition to any healthcare facility. However, even the business of keeping people healthy has a lot to gain from integrating digital signage into its operations.
Are you wondering what the benefits of digital signage in healthcare are? Below, we have highlighted some benefits of using digital signage technology in healthcare facilities.
The Benefits of Digital Signage In Healthcare
The healthcare industry is one of the many businesses that integrate digital signage into their operations. Businesses in this industry are rapidly hopping on the hype train to go modern and digital by incorporating digital signage.
But what exactly do healthcare facilities gain from implementing digital signage in their operations? Some of the essential benefits of digital signage in healthcare include the following:
1. Effective Wayfinding Solution
Large hospitals are faced with wayfinding problems that leave patients and visitors frustrated. In large hospitals with busy staff members and visitors that find the area unfamiliar, the environment can be a very uncomfortable and confusing one.
Hospitals like this are always large and busy, creating an atmosphere of an area that is difficult to navigate. Couple this with the cases of sick people being brought into the different wards on different floors, and anyone will see that large hospitals can be intimidating without the necessary location markets to help confused visitors and patients find their way around.
‘But isn’t that what the hospital staff are for?’
The hospital staff often points the patients and visitors to the right parts of the healthcare facility. However, healthcare providers are always busy and will not always be on standby to direct patients to their necessary destinations.
Thus, digital wayfinding solutions reduce wayfinding interruptions, help patients reach their destination actions faster, and help the staff focus better on their duties.
With digital signage, healthcare facilities can display immersive and intuitive maps and wayfinding solutions that aid navigation. Unlike static maps, digital signage wayfinding solutions are more dynamic, interactive, and easy to understand.
Digital wayfinding can be in the form of regular screens or touchscreen signs in self-service stations that offer personalized directions. To give you a head start on utilizing digital wayfinding solutions, here are five examples of digital signage for wayfinding.
2. Reduce Waiting Room Anxiety
Many people who find themselves in hospital and clinic waiting rooms will agree that the anxiety that accompanies these trips is one of the most negative parts of visiting these facilities.
Faced with the fear of the unknown that comes with waiting to discover the fate of a loved one or a personal diagnosis, people experience a crippling sense of anxiety that makes them immediately feel discomfort until they leave the premises.
This anxiety is not just a phobia but true emotional distress that exhibits itself in various symptoms, such as apparent signs of distress and discomfort. Hospital waiting room (or any healthcare facility waiting room, for that matter), anxiety is more common than people think.
It is a distressing experience that plagues at least 20% of patients that visit healthcare centers. Because waiting room anxiety contributes to the numerous negative experiences patients have in healthcare facilities, it is the facility’s job to help them feel as comfortable as possible.
Many factors contribute to waiting room anxiety. Some of these include past negative experiences, long wait periods, and the absence of physical stimulation to distract the patients from the strange sounds, sights, and smells they experience in the healthcare facility.
Implementing digital signage in the waiting room provides a healthy distraction that takes the patient's minds off the anxiety they feel. Digital signage can be used to display engaging and entertaining content like news, music videos, movie trailers, weather updates, and more.
Digital signage can also be tailored to display patient status with families. In cases where family members are waiting for a patient to come out from the operating room after a procedure, digital signage can be used to display countdown timers to help the family members cope better with the waiting time.
Still not convinced? Here are some of the benefits of digital signage in medical waiting rooms!
3. Share Real-Time Messages
Medical staff members are already always so busy and stressed. Healthcare workers, although usually undervalued, are overworked and often burnt out. They spend time trying to ensure their patients are in safe hands, so they can rarely spare moments for guests and other patients in the waiting room.
In healthcare facilities, communication is an integral aspect of services. Whether it is to the patients or to the patient's families and guests, healthcare centers often have vital information to pass along. This information includes health awareness, hospital services, upcoming events, health tips, and emergency alerts.
Although word of mouth and static signs were the go-to practical options for spreading the word in healthcare centers back in the day, these methods will not suffice now. These methods are impractical and messy, slow, inefficient, and challenging to manage.
Digital signage solves this problem by providing a platform that makes it easier for messages to flow from one end to the other unrestrictedly. With this technological solution, it is easier to offer digital updates using various content forms like videos, pictures, and customized text in multiple fonts, a feat that cannot be achieved with static signs.
With digital signage, it is now possible to drop real-time updates, enabling healthcare facilities to quickly share safety protocols, guidelines, and other latest communication regardless of the time.
4. Build Healthy Staff-Patient Relationships
One problem that breeds negative healthcare experiences is the lack of familiarity between healthcare providers and their patients. When a patient visits a healthcare center, they do this not only to buy services but because they trust the healthcare center (and ultimately the staff in it) to have a solution to a problem they have.
This is more than a simple transactional service but a service built on trust. However, in many healthcare centers, the patients do not know their healthcare providers well enough to have any trust in them. This reduces the quality of services the patients would have otherwise been able to enjoy, thereby decreasing the healthcare provider’s ability to meet the patient’s medical needs.
So, what is the best thing to do in these cases?
The most important thing to do in building a strong doctor/nurse-patient relationship is to break the ice by making the introductions more eye-catching. With digital signs erected in strategic areas of their facilities, healthcare providers can introduce their staff to patients and guests.
By using pictures and texts for the introductions, healthcare facilities can foster mutual trust between patients and doctors and help the patients see healthcare providers as more than scrubs and stethoscopes.
By using sophisticated digital signage content features, healthcare facilities can increase the establishment of healthy doctor-patient relationships and help patients enjoy maximum high-quality health services.
5. Effective Internal Communication
Who says digital signage in healthcare only works for communication between healthcare staff and patients?
Although digital signage in healthcare is prevalently used for external communication (or communication between healthcare staff and patients or visitors), it is also an excellent medium to share information internally between every staff member.
As previously mentioned, healthcare facilities are usually extremely busy establishments with tight schedules filled with patient appointments and emergencies. This leaves little to no room for staff members to share critical information in meetings.
Implementing digital signage offers an easier way to diffuse information internally in healthcare facilities. Acting as a dynamic notice board, digital signage makes it easier to display information in a way that not only makes it easier to get staff members’ attention but also ensures information can be dispersed in real time.
With digital signage, staff members can quickly share critical patient information such as current medications administered, allergies, and health warnings or risks. It is a great way to also display shift changes, display interactive digital patient records, or send emergency alerts to all members in the facility.
6. Faster Diagnosis
Many healthcare clinics, especially hospitals, will admit that it is easy to miss vital patient information. With the tons of patient documents in every file, it is easy to overlook a specific result that will be critical in making an accurate diagnosis, and hence, providing the necessary healthcare services.
From X-rays to CAT scans, blood draws, and urine tests, there are a lot of documents to keep up with. In a regular healthcare center, it might be challenging to see all pertinent patient documents at one glance. However, with digital signage, it is easier to use widescreen monitors to review all necessary patient information for making a diagnosis.
Digital signage can be integrated as a video wall, a collection of digital screens that can show different content at once. Combine the ability to show different documents at once with the high-resolution power of digital screens, and you will find that using digital signage to review the necessary documents offers improved visual information accuracy that ensures nothing is ever missed.
7. Educate Patients
There is no better way to educate patients in healthcare facilities than to use eye-catching and attention-grabbing digital signage technology.
In hospitals, healthcare providers can educate their patients about health risks and how to live healthier lives. They have the opportunity to help their patients make healthier choices that will improve their quality of life.
Although static signs like posters and other forms like magazines worked in the past, these options are not as effective or efficient as using high-resolution dynamic images.
The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. In fact, it takes only 13 milliseconds for the human brain to process an image. Therefore, it is no surprise that educating with digital signage works more effectively than with posters or fliers.
Use digital signage devices to display images, web pages, charts, and other relevant educational tools for the best effects.
8. Better Visibility
Even healthcare facilities have business needs. After all, how do they get more patients without brand visibility? People do not visit healthcare facilities just because these facilities are available. They visit certain facilities because these facilities have a positive brand.
A FedEx Office Survey established that ‘more than 68 percent of consumers believe a store’s signage reflects the quality of its products or services’. This survey also found that 8 in 10 customers are likely to enter a store, because of its digital signage.
In a way, digital signage acts as a beacon to attract business to healthcare facilities. It offers brand visibility and builds brand awareness, paving the way for more business.
In the healthcare industry, digital signage can be used as digital posters for on-premise branding. It can be utilized as a medium to showcase the healthcare brand in a positive light that attracts and retains attention.
Healthcare digital signage can be used to showcase the hospital’s marketing campaigns, special events (such as charity events), and other content that will boost brand awareness and recognition.
9. Carry Out Marketing Campaigns Efficiently
Is your healthcare facility looking to establish an efficient marketing campaign? This cannot be achieved without digital signage.
Although campaigns carried out using static signs can be successful when done correctly, digital signage offers a more effective means of campaign visibility that will ensure you attract your target audience.
Healthcare centers and facilities that implement digital signage in their marketing campaigns enjoy the convenience and cost-effect benefits this technology offers.
With digital signs, healthcare centers can post attention-grabbing advert content such as free health check-ups, discounted cosmetic surgeries, and even dental check-up plans using dynamic content that will attract more attention.
10. Better Appointment Management
Does your healthcare facility still use old-fashioned appointment logbooks? You might want to switch to the more convenient digital signage option.
With old-fashioned appointment books, it is easy to mix up schedules and make appointment mistakes. This not only leads to longer patient wait times but also negatively affects a patient’s experience at the healthcare facility.
With digital signage set-ups, especially interactive stations, it is easier to manage patient appointments and queues. With the right software, you can ensure your patient information, appointment dates, and other relevant information are accurately entered and within easy display reach.
Enjoying The Benefits of Loop TV
Whether it is in a hospital, an optometrist’s clinic, or a dental office (check out the benefits of digital signage for dentists), It is no doubt that digital signage offers a lot of benefits in the healthcare industry. However, to make the most of these benefits, it is essential to choose the right digital signage service.
Loop TV is a service that offers entertainment channels and sophisticated digital signage solutions. Sign up for our media player, connect, and start using the service.