The healthcare industry works endlessly to provide the care that patients need when they come in for emergency services, specialized treatments, life-saving surgeries, or even for simple physical exams. Following the proper guidelines on how to care for patients is crucial to ensure their safety, but the same should also go for your staff too.
Keeping your staff safe in an environment that has all kinds of people coming in and out with everything from infectious viruses and diseases, dangerous chemical and drug exposures, open wounds, and even workplace violence are all important factors to consider in this field. It’s crucial to remind staff to remain calm even on those days that seem crazier than others, and digital signage can be a great way to remind them to follow safety compliances and protocols.
Digital signage can help in more than one way in a hospital, but it can help to keep staff safe–which is of utmost importance! Here are some of the best ways for digital signage to help with safety in the healthcare industry.
1. Centralized Hub for Mass Notifications
Want to stay on top of what is happening in the building? Digital signage is a great way to keep staff in the loop!
One of the best ways to keep staff safe is to improve internal communication methods. In the healthcare industry, mass email chains can often be overlooked due to doctors, nurses, and aides primarily working on the floor taking care of patients. Digital signage can be placed in high traffic areas, such as the break room of common areas that staff frequent where it can be updated in real-time to reflect safety alerts, evacuation orders, and even ongoing threats within the building.
Many content management systems (CMS) that are paired with digital signage grant users the ability for remote updates that can reflect changes in real-time making it the perfect centralized hub for all communication. Users have the capability to override certain screens or all of them to show current concerns or issues within the building to ensure that staff see these updates and take the proper safety precautions needed.
2. Hazard Warnings
Avoiding falls by properly addressing spills is crucial for staff in healthcare!
Once an accident occurs, which could be anything from a spill, potential bloodborne pathogens, and other physical hazards, it is important for staff to know. While signs posted around the building could potentially help, digital signage is a more dynamic and eye-catching way to keep staff safe through colorful imagery and efficient warnings.
Not only can digital signage be a great way to alert staff of floor spills, how to properly lift heavy objects, and the higher risk of airborne illnesses in the workplace, it can also be a great way to allow staff to make their own alerts to keep each other safe. QR codes are a great way for staff to interact with each other, make suggestions, or simply to warn of particular hazards to look out for and keep everyone in the building safe.
3. Infection Control Protocols
Prevent your employees from getting sick with a proper list of protocols to avoid infections from spreading from patients to staff!
It is common for hospitals at certain times of the year to see an increase in infections among patients that can also easily be transmitted to staff. It also means that less staff might be on the floor due to being sick and having to take off from work. Having reliable staff members that know the basics of how to prevent infections from taking over is crucial, but just in case, digital signage is the next best method in order to continue to keep staff healthy and safe.
Infection control protocols are necessary for many digital signage screens because they can help to keep staff on the lookout for signs and symptoms in others or themselves, plus it can show ways to prevent catching anything. From handwashing reminders, reminding staff to help with environmental cleanings and sanitation around the workplace, and also how to properly recap and dispose of sharp needles.
4. Automated Public Wayfinding
Reduce the fear of traffic jams when emergencies arise in the hospital by using digital signage for automated public wayfinding!
There are many areas of a hospital that are busier than others. Guests are freely allowed to explore the hospital, sit in the waiting room, or visit the cafeteria while they’re visiting their loved one, which is why it’s crucial to keep areas clear in the hospital in case of emergencies.
A great way to up the safety in a hospital or other buildings within the healthcare industry is to come up with an easy and informative automated public wayfinding navigation system. Setting up a system such as this can help reduce physical crowding, reduce patient and visitor stress, prevent missed or late appointments, and it can save medical staff time by preventing traffic jams they can easily get caught in.
Overall, this can help to improve the operational flow of the hospital, efficiently guide patients and visitors to the proper department, and prevent any delays in treatment for those who come in.
5. Proper Handwashing Techniques
Keeping your hands clean in the healthcare industry is a must before handling clinical instruments and taking care of patients!
One of the most important general ways to stay safe and prevent the spread of harmful viruses and bacteria is washing your hands. In the healthcare industry, proper handwashing techniques are crucial to protect not only patients, but staff as well. Something as simple as having a handwashing reminder on your digital signage screen can help to make the difference every hospital or private practice needs.
When creating content for handwashing reminders on digital signage, you can add everything from the proper method of doing so, or you can simply add a reminder to wash your hands throughout the building. This can remind staff how important this step can be when taking care and looking after the health of themselves and their patients.
6. Updated Training Courses
Keeping your staff up to date on important training courses is crucial to the health of their patients and for hospital compliances too!
It takes many years of schooling to become a nurse, doctor, anesthesiologist, or someone who works in particular departments of the hospital. With that comes the proper training courses to get them better prepared for their job so they know what to look out for and keep their patients safe and on track to better health. At many hospitals, there is a standard for training compliances and different courses that staff need to take, and digital signage can help with that too.
Using digital signage, you can set up reminders for upcoming mandatory training sessions, such as CPR training, emergency preparedness, hazard communication, personal protective equipment (PPE), and even fire safety. These general, yet crucial trainings can help to ensure your staff stays compliant, prevents medical mistakes, and protects patient safety.
7. Mental Health Tips
Not only is mental health crucial for patients, but for staff as well, and simple reminders can go a long way!
Employees in healthcare are consistently looking after the health and wellbeing of their patients, but often forget to worry about themselves. Mental health is so important and it’s common to see hospital staff putting their job before themselves. While they are doing everything that they can to take care of the people coming in and out the doors of the hospital or private practice that they work at, it’s also crucial to have reminders for them to take care of themselves too.
Digital signage can be a great way to remind staff that their mental health matters. From adding wellness tips, such as reaching out for therapy, exploring company benefits to support their well-being, encouraging exercise, or even a reminder to prioritize sleep can be great mental health reminders to ensure that your staff are in tip-top shape to come to work and take care of themselves along with their patients.
Implement Shift Into Your Digital Signage Routine: How This CMS Platform Transforms Safety in Healthcare
Shift is a useful CMS platform that can help to increase the safety awareness in any healthcare establishment!
Digital signage is a great addition to any hospital to help boost safety and to create a better, more positive workplace environment. Shift is a CMS platform that goes above and beyond to create a positive environment all about recognition, improving retention, and increasing engagement among your team of staff, and it’s a must for any digital signage screen.
Shift: Your Go-To CMS Platform in the Healthcare Industry
There are a number of CMS platforms to choose from that can have a positive influence in hospitals and private practices in the healthcare industry. Shift is among one of the top contenders because it can help streamline daily operations, improve retention and revenue, and help increase engagement and internal communications.
Shift utilizes the Content Navigator, which allows for real-time updates and remote management no matter where you are, from any device. Whether you want to play training videos, post evacuation routes, or share other key updates to keep staff in the loop, Shift can help ensure staff stay informed and feel valued through recognition posts–the company’s main mission.
Features Shift Can Provide in Healthcare
Shift can do a ton of things that can positively benefit the healthcare industry with unique features that include the following:
- Boost employee engagement through recognition and appreciation
- Celebrate staff birthdays, work anniversaries, and other achievements
- Show training videos
- Employee spotlights
- Interactive polls for staff to anonymously complete
- Expands internal communications
- Allows staff to retrain and re-skill in key trainings
- Helps leaders learn more about staff
- Encourages employees to do work harder
- Increases productivity
- Create diverse content using pictures, videos, or documents
- Use as a wayfinding and navigation system
- Broadcast company announcements, updated policies, etc.
- Use to post emergency alerts
- Streamline workflow and post frequent updates about each day’s tasks
Make a Difference in the Healthcare Industry By Improving Safety Through Digital Signage
Improving safety through the healthcare industry is crucial in order to keep patients and staff safe. Digital signage can be a great addition that can help improve training, infection control protocols, hazard warnings, and it can even be a centralized hub for important notifications and crucial staff updates.
No matter how you plan to use digital signage, consider using Shift to help keep your patients and staff safe within the healthcare industry!
