Waiting for an appointment can often feel like an eternity. Have you ever considered a waiting room TV?
Most people can relate to the perception of time dragging while waiting for an appointment. However, that seems to take on more meaning in a medical facility where anxiety and uncertainty are officially acknowledged feelings. This is where the power of a well-planned waiting room TV comes into play. When this happens, waiting room TV helps not only to enhance patients’ experience, deliver important information, display advertisements, and promote healthcare services, but it can also have other significant contributions. But what should you show on your waiting room TV, and why is it so important?
Why your healthcare facility needs a waiting room TV
Take a minute and think about your patients coming into a waiting room—not just a boring room full of chairs and random old magazines. A waiting room TV can change a dull waiting room lobby into a dynamic space. Providing educational material and entertaining videos, announcing queue status updates and warning alerts – the right content on a waiting room TV decreases patients’ perceived waiting times and increases their satisfaction.
Are you curious about how to implement an effective waiting room TV solution? Find out how, with Yodeck, you can customize and manage your content remotely, making it easy and effective to keep your patients engaged and informed!
What to show on your TV: Eight content ideas that work
- Educational and health tips: Why not use your waiting room TV to provide your patients with health education materials, health tips, and disease prevention counseling? Simple infographics and videos on topics like how to eat healthy, exercise, and manage mental health will serve this purpose well.
- Patient entertainment and relaxation content: Calm the patients down by showing them soothing nature videos, meditative guides, or light entertainment content. This not only improves the patient’s experience but also enhances ambient conditions that can leave a positive impression of your services.
- Queue status updates and appointment information: Inform patients about their place in the queue and estimated waiting times. Digital signage software such as Yodeck accommodates this frustration by integrating queue management with the TV display, allowing patients to view real-time updates.
- Wayfinding and directions: Wayfinding information is crucial, especially for patients navigating bigger healthcare institutions. Maps, directions to various departments, and security procedures should be provided to increase comfort and decrease stress.
- Customizable content for promotions and branding: Take advantage of the TV in your healthcare facility to promote new services, share success stories, and highlight patient testimonials. Also, showcase customized messages that fit with your healthcare facility’s mission.
- Social media integration and news updates: To add some freshness to your content, social media feeds should be incorporated. Also, it displays news, weather, and local events on the screen to keep the patients connected to the outside world.
- Emergency alerts and announcements: A waiting room television screen can be a very useful means of communicating last-minute or unexpected schedule changes or any other emergency information. Alerts can be displayed on the screen immediately to help ensure the safety of the patients and proper communication.
- Interactive content and multi-screen display options: Consider using a multi-screen approach with interactive content on facilities with several waiting areas. These could also involve the patients using touch screens to check in, choose their preferred language, and give feedback, making their waiting period productive.
How to spruce up your waiting room using digital signage
Apart from the content, consider the waiting area’s environment in its entirety. A comfortable space and catchy content can ameliorate the patients’ experience. Use relaxed furniture, dim lights, and calming colors in the waiting area. Add plants, artwork, and the appropriate music to create a welcoming space.
There is a fundamental difference between the lobby and the waiting area. The waiting area can become a place that adds to the overall experience of your patients rather than only fulfilling a functional aspect. Digital signage with dynamic elements will help to break the monotony of waiting and create a more inviting environment.
How to effectively manage content
A well-balanced waiting room TV strategy depends not only on the content you show but also on how you manage it. Remote content management software helps you update and modify content without struggle. This is quite beneficial for healthcare facilities that have several branches where consistency and manageable solutions are crucial. Yodeck, for example, provides a content management and scheduling solution for waiting room TVs from anywhere, so your waiting room TV is always up-to-date and relevant.
Make your waiting room TV work for you
Waiting room TVs are not only about killing time; they are also about improving user experience, boosting interaction, and promoting your services. Instead of a sterile format dominated by paper signboards and brochures, you can take this opportunity to create a dynamic space with informative, wayfinding, entertaining content and videos illustrating what your organization stands for and what it offers.
Ready to get started? Sign up now to see how Yodeck can help you make the most of your waiting room TV and elevate your healthcare facility’s environment today!