The healthcare industry is a bustling industry that seems to have no end. Hospitals and especially those that work in the ER are frequently taking care of patients, admitting and discharging them, and acting quickly to provide life-saving care if necessary. For patients arriving for check-ups, annual physical exams, or speciality services, there are easier and faster methods of check-in, finding their way around confusing buildings, and ways to help ease their mind while they’re waiting to be seen.
Digital signage can help to improve many aspects of the healthcare industry for both employees and even for customer satisfaction. A piece of technology seen in waiting rooms, cafeterias, or even upon entering a hospital or medical building can help to make a patient’s experience easier, less chaotic, and even ease their anxieties more.
Let’s learn more about digital signage and how it can help to improve customer satisfaction in the healthcare industry!
1. Self-Service Kiosks for Easy Check-In
Instead of waiting to speak to someone at a reception desk, check-in with digital signage for rapid self-service!
Having someone handle the reception desk in doctor’s offices is an important role as these personnel are in charge of scheduling appointments and checking patients in, among other important duties. One of the best ways to use digital signage to improve customer satisfaction is to use it as a self-service kiosk for checking into appointments, filling out medical forms, as well as insurance and payment forms too.
Digital signage is a great system that can be used as self-service kiosks for patients that come in. Patients can use the touchscreen digital signage to sign themselves in, or fill out intake paperwork using QR codes, along with submitting insurance and payment information all from the comfort of their seat in the waiting room.
This is an easier way for both patients and staff because everything can be done electronically and is automatically uploaded to the system for nurses and doctors to see. It also is a more efficient way of documenting important information compared to wasting paper and having patients write everything down, then copying it into the system that the hospital or doctor’s office uses.
2. Interactive Wayfinding
Make finding the right doctor’s office even easier with interactive wayfinding using digital signage!
Digital signage can work in a number of different ways, but one of the best ways that it can help improve customer satisfaction within the healthcare industry is through the feature of interactive wayfinding. Large buildings that are home to many doctor’s offices can be confusing to walk into, especially in times when you’re nervous for a new appointment or are running late. By adding digital signage to lobbies, it can make finding a specific office or department easier than ever.
There are a ton of ways that digital signage can be used as interactive wayfinding to help patients out when they’re trying to reach their destination. It can be used as an interactive touchscreen directory with a map to point out different offices, departments, or even cafeterias or restrooms. Digital signage can also be used as turn-by-turn 3D navigation to create visual paths of where to go, show elevator wait times, estimated walking routes, and it can also show QR codes to scan using your smart phone.
Even for those whose native language isn’t English, screens can also provide options for multilingual individuals to select a language, or for those who need bigger fonts and high-contrast layouts due to visual impairments.
3. Queue Management
Stuck in the ER or is there a hold-up at a doctor’s office? Check the digital signage to see where you're in the queue!
Emergency rooms are busy and sometimes hectic places to be. If you’re waiting to be seen, it can lead to a lot of anxiety depending on the severity of why you're there to begin with. Instead of stressing patients out with each name call and wondering when they’re going to be seen next, instead opt for digital signage with a live queue management to ease the tension of when they’re going to be called next.
Adding queue management on digital signage is one of the best and easiest forms of content that can help to keep hospitals organized, while also keeping patients informed on when they’ll be seen. Using real-time updates, digital signage can automatically update when a patient will be seen as it goes down the line of who is next with estimated wait timesIt can give them time to run outside and make a phone call, grab something to eat in the cafeteria, or take a quick walk to avoid sitting for long periods of time.
4. Visuals to Calm Anxious Patients
For adults or children nervous about coming to a doctor’s appointment, specific visuals on digital signage can be a great way to ease them!
It is common for people to be anxious about attending a doctor’s visit. Depending on the situation or circumstance for scheduling it, some appointments can be scarier than others. One of the best ways to improve customer satisfaction within the healthcare industry is to use digital signage as a calming aid with dynamic visuals for those who need a little extra support.
Adding calming visuals to digital signage in a doctor’s office or around a hospital can be a great way to lower patient anxiety and create a serene environment instead of the stress that comes from sitting in the waiting room. Some of the best calming visuals that you can add to any digital signage platform can consist of calm nature videos of beaches, aquariums, or tropical rainforests. Healthcare facilities can also use slow transitions to flip through calming videos or pictures to current wait times or announcements from the doctor’s office or hospital.
5. Wellness Tips
Since patients are sitting waiting to be seen by a doctor, consider adding wellness tips to influence them to improve certain aspects of their lives!
Words of encouragement are one of the best ways to boost anyone’s mood, and it can be simple content to create to add to digital signage. Hospitals are full of people that work towards helping their patients get back on their feet, provide proper diagnoses for their symptoms, and give patients the proper care and advice they need. Digital signage can help give those patients some encouragement while sitting and waiting for the doctor to see them.
Wellness tips are a great addition to any waiting area for a doctor’s office or hospital because it not only can reduce wait times by keeping patients distracted and engaged in the content, but it can also promote preventative care, such as diet tips, stress the importance of daily exercise, hygiene do’s and don’t’s, and overall encourage a healthier lifestyle. This could also be an opportunity to promote seasonal campaigns, like the flu shot for the fall/winter time, yearly mole checks for skin cancer, and even support health observances, such as mental health awareness or pink October for breast cancer.
6. Employee Spotlights
Nervous about seeing a new doctor? Use digital signage to ease patients by giving them a first look at who they’re seeing with an employee spotlight!
Visiting a new doctor or a specialist can be intimidating if you’re not sure how the appointment will go. Does the doctor have the experience you’re looking for and are they going to be able to diagnose the issue you’re having currently? While these are all fair questions to consider, digital signage can also help to resolve this issue, and employee spotlights can be a great way to introduce patients to the doctor they’re seeing and get some essential background information on them beforehand.
Employee spotlights are a great addition to digital signage for internal purposes by showing staff you appreciate their hard work and dedication to their craft, but it is also a great way to help ease anxieties that patients have about meeting a new doctor for the first time. Building trust and confidence is crucial for patients upon meeting a doctor, and an employee spotlight can do this by reassuring them that they’re in the right hands with the utmost professionalism and care they need. This tactic can also humanize the facility by showing the real people behind their scrubs, it encourages a connection right away, and improves a patient’s overall experience.
Shift and Why it’s the Best CMS Platform to Create Content With in Healthcare
Creating content shouldn’t be difficult for your waiting room, especially with the features that Shift can offer!
Adding digital signage to a private practice, medical building, or hospital within the healthcare industry can help to improve customer satisfaction, but only if the right content is being displayed. A content management system (CMS) is the perfect addition to any digital signage screen and Shift is among the best to choose from for the purposes of improving the customer experience in healthcare.
Why Choose Shift?
There are a number of reasons why many hospitals and practices choose Shift as their go-to CMS platform for digital signage. Shift can do anything with its uniquely pre-made templates that make content creation easier than ever as it can: give employees the spotlights they deserve, provide wayfinding for patients arriving for their appointments, and is a way to stay organized and communicate with both staff and those that come in seeking medical treatment.
Shift offers those that utilize their program full access to their most important feature, the Content Navigator, which allows managers to go in and schedule content remotely and also use real-time updates of the queue of patients throughout the day, and even boost engagement and internal communications among staff. Overall, Shift can affect both employees in the healthcare industry by its timely and live updates of essential announcements and information, while also encouraging patients to relax before their doctor’s appointment.
Content Creation Features and Tips for Shift
Shift comes with so many unique features that hospitals and private practices can use to benefit both their staff and the patients that they see regularly. Here are some of the best features included in Shift and how to use them within the healthcare industry:
Don’t Wait–Choose Shift as Your CMS Platform For Improving Customer Satisfaction in Healthcare
The healthcare industry is among the most important that helps to take care and give back to the citizens of our communities. Improving customer satisfaction by providing information about doctors, useful wellness tips, digitally checking-in to appointments, and navigation and wayfinding are among the best ways for patients to feel more comfortable attending those difficult medical appointments.
Consider using Shift and its unique features to improve customer satisfaction in the healthcare industry!
