How Digital Signage Increases Patient Satisfaction & Streamlines Hospitals for the Future
Modernizing the Overall Hospital Visit
For many patients, the experience of a hospital stay can be overwhelming. Even in the case of less severe conditions, facing medical care is rarely pleasant. As such, improving standards of care and the patient experience are consistent objectives for medical facilities nationwide. As healthcare evolves, hospital infrastructure needs to evolve along with it.
Facilities seeking to stand out from the crowd, should consider investing in a modern take of digital signage and wayfinding. Digital signage can inform patients and guests, save facilities time and money and create a calmer more inviting healthcare experience.
Improve Patient Satisfaction with Hospital Wayfinding Solutions
When patients and family members enter the hospital, they are often reliant upon static navigational signs and having access to patient services. This can create a negative experience when information resources are low or hard to find. Language barriers complicate delivering healthcare wayfinding assistance through traditional methods.
An interactive healthcare wayfinding directory can provide all the necessary relevant information with a tap of the finger. With interactive maps, it’s easy to see the layout of a hospital, the locations of available services, and clear, easy-to-interpret directions—all available in multiple languages. This can immediately improve patient experience; when visitors know where they need to go and how to get there, a stressful situation can feel a little less overwhelming.
Beyond making facilities easier to navigate, healthcare wayfinding can also offer reprieve by providing information on area amenities. For those visiting loved ones with long stays in the hospital, many may want to get some fresh air and head somewhere outside the hospital. Digital signage provides information for close by restaurants, coffee shops, shopping, gas and other resources with immediate contact information and directions. Additionally, facilities can promote their in-house amenities: cafes, valet service, gift shop, and educational events. This type of information helps extend care to all visitors of the facility.
Not only do hospital digital signage and wayfinding solutions enhance the patient experience, but they are a simple, cost-effective way to improve a healthcare facility. With the ability to offer significant advantages for patients in need, digital wayfinding directories can transform hospital operations for the better.
In a study by PhD. Zimring and his Healthcare Innovation Program at Emory University, findings showed that the lost productivity resulting from nurses and doctors directing patients, cost the hospital between $200-$300k each year. On top of the cost, this immense time and productivity loss is tied to one of hospitals biggest assets, its people. Hospital digital signage integration is a simple solution to combat this problem, alleviating staff and creating a more streamlined and successful hospital.
Digitizing Hospital Common Areas
Technology has long been an important asset in the medical industry, reducing time, saving money, and improving patient outcomes. As the healthcare industry looks to the future, organizations are noticing that the benefits of technology transcends far past the operating room and serves the patient experience. Digital signage allows hospitals to change vital information with ease. Personnel changes can be instantly updated, health tips and educational content can be updated regularly, and facilities can personalize the way they communicate with their patients in real time. These benefits can even be integrated into elevators with ADA compliant two-way video communication. This can assist and help inform those with hearing or vision impairment while riding the elevator and activate in case of an emergency.
Even more specifically, waiting rooms and common areas provide hospitals with a tremendous opportunity to inform, engage, soothe by providing a digitally positive environment. Hospitals can control content with options to create their own short or longform pieces, or with the right digital signage provider, stream curated content. Installations such as video walls can turn a stark waiting room into a space that displays vibrant pieces of art that change with the season, the day, or the minute. Pediatric departments are perfect areas to activate video wall technology to its full potential. A blank wall can become a beautiful aquarium, an African safari or Disney World. These vibrant, engaging, digital canvases can help contribute to a naturally calming environment for patients and visitors.
Beyond informing and creating engaging interactive spaces, studies done by Retail Business Development show that when people are presented with digital signage, they reported a decreased perceived wait time of 33%, which means a 30-minute wait felt like 20 minutes. When patients enter a hospital, they want to know that help is immediately available. Any subtraction in wait time can make a hospital visit less stressful.
Touchscreen solutions can make a world of difference for patients in need, providing a way to improve both the patient and visitor experience. Digital signage and directories are low-cost options that create dynamic solutions. These solutions update and evolve along with a facility. Providing patients with beautiful ever changing aesthetics as they walk in the door and keep them informed on information they need throughout their experience. As the healthcare industry continues to make technological strides, it’s crucial that patient experience is just as innovative. Digital signage can be the key contributor to creating an impressive, educational experience that keeps your patients feeling calm, informed and invested in.
