10 ways digital signs can improve your hospital

Printed pieces can easily be overlooked and quickly become outdated.

Static artwork in waiting rooms does little to effectively comfort and reassure worried families.

Sloppy handwriting or a missed alert can compromise your patients’ safety.

It’s time to shift your signage to a digital platform to make your messages:

• More engaging & visually impactful
• Easier & quicker to update by centralized or local teams
• Consistent across many locations at once
• Updated immediately when & where it’s needed

Wondering where to start with your signage strategy?

Here are 10 types of content digital signs can help you distribute in a streamlined, cost-effective and fully integrated way throughout your hospital.

1. Directories & wayfinding

Your hospital likely has lots of units and hallways for patients and visitors to navigate. Save them — and your staff — time and frustration¹ with dynamic wayfinding signs that easily guide them where to go.

Incorporate accessible options that can format maps and directories in multiple languages, layouts and font sizes. Use arrows, symbols and color-coded areas throughout your facility to make directions as simple as possible for people to follow.

2. Population health

Use eye-catching visuals to educate and remind people about important public health issues. QR codes can provide easy connections to additional information or resources.

• Vaccines, health screenings & preventive care
• Awareness months & support groups
• Blood drives & immunization clinics
• Quality & safety commitments
• Seasonal health or safety information
• Research opportunities
• Wellness & well-being programs

3. Staff communication

In employee break rooms and lounges, digital signs can be used to:

• Remind them about policy updates or upcoming events
• Recognize² outstanding performance & service
• Encourage screening & vaccination conversations with patients
• Offer motivational messages & notes of gratitude

4. Temporary alerts

Refresh screens with announcements about visitor restrictions, construction relocations, holiday hours or paths to safety during an emergency situation.

5. Patient information

Where it’s appropriate in your hospital, digital clinical signs can display a HIPAA-compliant patient data to continually improve a patient’s care experience, quality and safety.

Clinicians and patients can always have accurate and up-to-date details to consult with information displayed on EHR-integrated digital door signs, digital whiteboards and interactive TVs.

6. Intentional ambience

A live feed or video display of a natural environment with soothing sounds can create calming spaces in your hospital to help visitors manage anxiety and stress.³

Interactive displays in patient rooms can be configured to offer additional content designed to comfort and empower patients.

7. Positive distraction

Curated entertainment and custom content on digital displays can offer patients and visitors positive distractions that provide familiar comforts to shift their minds away from worry and uneasiness.

8. Cafeteria & cafe menus

Display hours and locations of where visitors can find food, drinks and snacks.

An integration with your point-of-sale system can automatically display available options for purchase, along with prices, nutritional information and dietary notes.

9. Donor recognition

Create a beautiful display that honors your benefactors in a way they would appreciate most.

A digital donor wall lets you quickly update and reformat the display — including names, videos, images, biographies or testimonials — as you receive new gifts.

Encourage new donors by highlighting the direct impact gifts to your organization have, and what your current fundraising projects are.

10. Branding & marketing

Waiting rooms, lobbies and other common areas are great places to use digital screens to reinforce your brand identity and loyalty.

• Share messages from leadership to welcome visitors
• Increase brand awareness⁴ with consistent messaging & imagery
• Spotlight staff & share patient testimonials
• Highlight hospital awards, recognitions & accreditations
• Advertise on-site services, specialty care & tertiary locations

Digital signs, video walls and wayfinding solutions can be a valuable part your hospital’s patient and staff engagement strategies.

Each endpoint can be updated as often as you need, cohesively reflecting your brand and delivering content automatically, dynamically and intentionally to the people who need it most.

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2020. It has been updated for freshness and comprehensiveness.