How Digital Signage Systems Can Be Used in Hospitals

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Innovative digital signage, displays, and monitors have successfully infiltrated a number of major industries including retail, gaming, transportation, education, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, and many more. But one industry that’s only really beginning to scratch the surface of digital signage is the healthcare sector.

There are a lot of known benefits to incorporating modern technology into the healthcare system, many of which can improve and streamline daily operations for better accuracy, efficiency, and resourcefulness. Here are just a few examples of how digital displays are game changers in hospital settings:

Enhanced Wayfinding Solutions

Most hospitals are like giant confusing mazes, even for the staff that spend most of their time there. Times of emergencies can be especially stressful for patients and their visitors and their anxiety is only heightened if they have a hard time finding the right division or room. While hospitals have always been equipped with stationary directories that include physician names, titles, and room numbers, these directories are incapable of providing actual directions in real time, which is often very useful for patients and visitors.

Digital wayfinding directories change all of that. In their most advanced forms, hospital visitors can actually type in the information they’re looking for and they’ll be presented with a digital map that directs them to the exact location they’re looking for. These step-by-step directions along with the digital map can also be sent directly to their mobile devices for continued navigational convenience.

Patient Room Interactivity

Another beneficial use for digital displays in hospitals is patient room interactivity and dynamic engagement. What this means is that patients have the ability to communicate in real-time with hospital staff even if they’re not actually in the same room.

Digital technology acts as an effective replacement for traditional whiteboards, which need to be manually updated regularly, in the patients’ rooms. These digital displays exhibit pertinent and detailed information about each patient’s condition as a means of promoting patient education and providing them with the resources to remain fully informed about their condition.

Examination and treatment results and schedules can also be automatically updated in this system for the convenience of the patients and hospital staff who need constant easy access to it.

Access to Digital Hospital Information Boards

Whether you’re a patient or visiting someone, very little experiences are more tedious than being forced to sit impatiently in a hospital waiting room awaiting test or treatment results. Sitting there, watching the clock ticking, even just a few minutes can feel like an eternity—especially if you’re feeling anxious about the reason for the hospital visit. Hospitals typically provide some form of entertainment like toys for children, reading material, and muted televisions to help occupy the time.

New developments, however, illustrate that people need more mental stimulation in these types of situations. Digital information boards are a great solution because they can provide the escapism that many people in hospital waiting rooms crave. First, they showcase the exact time so people know how long they’ve been waiting. Second, they provide up-to-the-minute updates as well as news, weather, and sporting reports. Third, important messages like emergency warnings or Amber Alerts can also be prominently displayed on these screens throughout the hospital. Lastly, these screens can be used as important educational resources for patients and visitors by displaying hospital staff profiles and relevant healthcare facts or information.

Digital Displays Are Excellent Emergency Response Tools

To elaborate further on how digital displays can be useful emergency response and navigational tools in the event of an urgent situation, relevant instructions and information can be displayed on them as needed. For instance, if a natural disaster like an earthquake or flooding occurs, then hospital staff can quickly turn on the emergency feature on the mainframe to alert everyone in the building of the imminent danger as well as the appropriate safety precautions that should be taken.

On that note, these displays can also be used to make important announcements in the event of an abducted child or missing person in the area.

Capacity for Real-Time Communication

Going back to the scenario of people waiting in hospital waiting rooms to hear about medical treatment results or surgical updates for their friend or family member, digital displays can actually be used to provide that information in real time. This technology has been instrumental in alleviating anxiety levels in waiting rooms and it also eases some pressure for hospital staff who are conditioned and accustomed to dealing with stressed out family and friends of patients.

Cafeteria Digital Menu Boards

Digital menu boards aren’t just for fast food chains and coffee shops. They’re also making their way into hospital cafeterias and lounges as well, allowing patients, visitors, and hospital staff equal opportunity to purchase quick and convenient meals. This can also help increase hospital efficiency since most nurses, doctors, and administrators often don’t have time to take long lunch breaks or go somewhere offsite.

Efficient and Accurate Patient Registration

Paper registration forms are slowly but surely becoming a relic of the past as an increasing number of hospitals and medical facilities are adopting digital patient registration. Patient registration can be done on a tablet or at a digital kiosk. There are numerous benefits to implementing this method. It streamlines administrative workflow by eliminating the need for staff to manually enter patient information into the system. And, it also minimizes the risk of inaccuracy, which has been prevalent in the past, due to misspellings, grammatical errors, illegible handwriting, and human error among other factors.

Nauticomp Inc. is one of the leading digital signage and display manufacturing and distribution companies in North America. Our displays have been instrumental in countless military and Marines operations, but are also currently being used in other sectors including retail, restaurant and hospitality, and healthcare. To learn more about how our digital applications can help improve hospital operations and objectives, contact us.