In healthcare facilities, sharing the right information at the right time is crucial to quality patient care.
The effects of poor communication can be disastrous — and facilities have lost $1.7 billion in malpractice costs because of communication failures.
Aside from deterring quality care, these issues slow patient throughput, increase patient anxiety, and decrease overall patient satisfaction.
So, how can you overcome communication challenges at your facility?
Digital signage is the way to go.
Hospitals and clinics who have opted for digital communication have seen major impact in:
- Streamlining internal communication
- Reducing patient wait times
- Creating more patient-friendly experiences.
Let’s see how digital signage can get these results for your facility too.
Improves real-time staff communication
Healthcare work environments can get overwhelming because of how dynamic they are. This is especially true for your staff, who have to keep up with ever-evolving updates.
Safe to say – traditional signage like posters and notice boards won’t cut it. Besides being expensive and time-consuming to replace, they cannot communicate critical information in real-time. Additionally, communication through email can lead to delayed responses or worse – missed updates.
But that’s not the case with digital communication. By using eye-catching displays, you can share critical information in real-time. This includes staffing shifts, schedule updates, patient care guidelines, and healthcare protocols. This way, your staff is up-to-date without losing time or disrupting their workflows by checking their emails constantly.
Broadcasts emergency alerts
When it comes to emergency communication, digital signage outperforms other solutions in the market by far. You can send emergency messages to targeted display screens to alert staff and patients during natural calamities or security threats.
In most solutions, you’ll have an emergency messaging feature to override your current content with alert messages in seconds! For example, in case of an earthquake, you can share alert messages, evacuation routes, best practices, and safety shelters to ensure your staff and patients are safe.
Reduces perceived wait times
Long wait times are one of the biggest patient frustrations. More than 20% of patients leave without seeing their physician because of long waits!
This is concerning for two major reasons. Firstly, your patient’s health is at risk. Secondly, research shows that no-show patients cost about $200 per unused slot, denting revenue.
A solution to reducing patient wait times is by using waiting room TVs. Powered by a power digital signage software, here’s how they help:
- Engage waiting patients: Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time. Using dynamic displays, you can engage patients during their wait to calm waiting room jitters and reduce boredom. You can share patient success stories, hospital amenities, weather, and new updates on dynamic displays.
- Display live wait times: Fear of the unknown is real. The longer the wait, the more anxious and restless patients become. By displaying live wait times, patients know exactly when their turn is and how long they have to wait — reducing stress.
Simplifies navigation
For patients and visitors, finding their way through your facility can be confusing. This can quickly change to frustration in case of emergencies.
Prevent this by installing interactive kiosks to simplify wayfinding around your facility. When placed at strategic locations (like entrances and registration counters), patients and visitors can look up their destinations easily and get stepwise directions. This saves them time and energy, improving their experience at your facility.
Another way to make wayfinding easier is by displaying your facility layout on large screens. You can highlight floor numbers, departments, cafeterias, pharmacies, and more to help patients find their way faster.
Streamlines registration and queueing
Imagine those long queues at registration counters. Now, imagine being sick and rushing to see a doctor, waiting in those long queues. This is not ideal.
In healthcare, patient experience is all about how patients feel during different stages of their journey with your brand. A situation like the one above will leave your patients feeling unvalued and frustrated.
To streamline patient registration, you can use display screens embedded with registration QR codes. When these screens are installed at entrances and check-in counters, patients can simply scan the code and register themselves on the spot. This helps reduce congestion and crowding and also frees up your staff to assist patients in other areas.
Additionally, you can use display screens to share next-in-line information like token numbers, patient names, and doctor rooms to prevent long queues inside your facility.
Redefine communication with digital signage
Bottom line: Digital signage can transform how you communicate with your patients and staff.
As patients get used to seamless customer experiences in other verticals, they’ll also have high standards for patient experience. This goes beyond doctor appointments and consultations. Rather, it’s about the entire journey with your healthcare brand end-to-end.
With digital signage, you can ensure seamless patient experiences in-facility. Its benefits are twofold — both staff and patient-facing. For your staff, it enables smoother workflows and real-time access to accurate information to boost productivity.
For patients, digital communication ensures their visits are pleasant and welcoming — with transparent communication to keep them engaged and informed during their visit. For forward-thinking facilities, digital signage is the way to go for healthcare communications.
