WAYFINDING AND SIGNAGE
Digital signage improving patient and staff experience
Healthcare providers are using digital signage and IPTV systems to manage ongoing COVID challenges, and subsequently recognising how AV systems can improve the patient experience, says Colin Farquhar, senior vice-president, Sales, at VITEC, a specialist in end-to-end video streaming.
The past two years have been challenging for just about every healthcare institution in the world. COVID-19 has not only had a seismic impact on hospitals and other medical facilities from the outset of the pandemic, but most have also had to continuously adapt to rapidly evolving and difficult situations. In addition to providing emergency triage for an onslaught of coronavirus cases, and finding beds for the most severe cases, medical providers have also been proactively involved in supporting national vaccination roll-outs. While all this has been happening, healthcare organisations have still had to continue to manage patients with non- COVID conditions, including those dealing with other severe illnesses, suffering injuries, or otherwise requiring urgent care. Equally, even as the number of the most severe COVID cases has begun to diminish, many healthcare providers are facing a backlog of surgical procedures that have been put off due to tied-up facilities, a lack of manpower, and patient safety concerns.
Critical ‘comms’ The upshot of a rapidly evolving long- term medical crisis has been that communication – with patients, families,
staff, contractors, and other visitors and users – has been critical to the successful ongoing operation of healthcare facilities of all types. Having the right technologies in place to manage and provide effective and safe communications, whether to personal devices, or on site in public and closed areas at hospitals, clinics, and other facilities, has been essential. Having to rely on digital tools such
as track and trace smartphone apps, while also finding ways of managing vaccination outreach for entire populations, has made it clear that cutting-edge technologies are crucial to delivering effective communication within healthcare institutions and the communities they serve. To effectively communicate with individuals who still require treatment at, and visitors to, medical facilities worldwide amid any social distancing requirements and other restrictions, many healthcare providers are discovering new ways to interact with patients and visitors through innovative IPTV and digital signage technologies.
IPTV power Turkey’s TOBB University of Technology and Economics (ETÜ) Hospital in Ankara offers a great case in point on the power of IPTV and digital signage to keep
everyone on site – from doctors and nurses, to cleaners and administrative staff, and patients and family – efficiently informed. TOBB ETÜ Hospital has screens installed in inpatient rooms, clinic waiting areas, visitor waiting rooms, and restaurants and cafés, across its multi-level site. This AV system facilitates the delivery of broadcast programming – including news and educational material – to 85 patient rooms, six public areas, and 28 staff desktops. The IP video system also delivers prepared presentations and training videos to enable staff to access medical information, or refresh their training at their convenience, from a desktop computer – which has undoubtedly become increasingly important as the COVID-19 crisis has evolved. Healthcare providers are increasingly
relying on IPTV and digital signage to interact with patients and visitors, welcoming them on site, providing instructions, reinforcing guidelines, and sharing policy updates in public areas. The need for this type of customised public communication has reached new levels of urgency during the pandemic, and the level of face-to-face contact remains a concern, even as the number of grave COVID cases decreases in many countries.
New patient rooms at the Overlake Medical Center in the US feature a hospital-grade display with ‘simple, intuitive, user interface’. June 2022 Health Estate Journal 59
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