Whether it’s your waiting room TVs, the TVs in your patient rooms, or even the ones in your nurses’ stations or employee lounges; TVs play a vital roll in your hospital. In fact, it’s hard to settle down anywhere in a hospital without seeing a TV from where you’re sitting. That’s why what goes on the TV is important. But before you throw any old thing on the screen, you should consider what the TV is for.

Waiting Room TVs vs Patient Room TVs

When deciding what to put on the TV, it’s important to recognize that the TVs in your patient rooms serve a different purpose than the TVs in your waiting rooms. Patient rooms are places where patients have a one-on-one experience with the TV. They can also be there for an extended period of time. That being said, it’s a no-brainer as to why cable is the preferred choice for patient rooms. The patient gets to control what’s on their TV. They are the primary audience of that television, and as such can choose the exact content they want to without upsetting anyone else.

Waiting room TVs are different. If you have a solution that works in your patient rooms, it’s likely not the best solution for your waiting rooms. The time spent waiting is usually less than in exam rooms, and the audience is different. The content on your TVs should reflect that.

Patients gathered in a waiting room aren’t there to watch TV like they would at home. They’re in a waiting room, waiting to be seen, or waiting for someone else to come back from treatment. Waiting room TVs are casual distractions to help pass the time. Patients neither have the time, nor the interest, to invest in shows or segments that run 30-60 minutes long. So why pay for something that people are ignoring? You can do better than cable, or a medical TV display for your waiting rooms.

IRTV: Better Waiting Room Television

It’s Relevant TV is television designed for waiting room settings. It’s short-form, family-friendly content is split into 40+ categories that you pick and choose from which people genuinely enjoy watching. Patients gathered in waiting rooms aren’t individually in control of the TV, or TVs there. The ability to have multiple programming types appearing on the screen, which helps the patients all find something they enjoy, and keeping the content a short, 2-3 minutes long is best as you can shift between many content types to please the greatest number of people.

So leave cable to the patient rooms, and explore how you can do better for your waiting room TVs with It’s Relevant TV.

 

If you’re a business owner, marketing professional, or someone in charge of visitor experience; and you don’t know what’s on your TV in your waiting areas, you may want to keep reading. This article will highlight some of the things that are appearing on your waiting room TV without you realizing it.

Why knowing what’s on your TV is Important.

Some people say “what you don’t know can’t hurt you,” but in reality, the exact opposite is true. In the case of your waiting room TV, not knowing what’s playing can come back to haunt you. It’s like leaving your garage door open for the day; you have no idea how many unwelcome squirrels, birds, and mice may have found their way inside. You might think you have the TV tuned to something safe, or family-friendly; but with cable, DirecTV or a medical service provider, you don’t know unless you’re there in person. Unless you’re in control of what’s on your TV, there’s really no telling what your visitors might be exposed to.

When Using Cable or DirecTV…

The News, Food Network, and channels like E! are the go-to standard for waiting room television. What is the purpose of choosing these channels? It’s usually just needing something to put on the TV. TVs are in waiting rooms because they’re a familiar distraction. They can reduce stress, and help pass the time; people put TVs in waiting rooms because they care about the comfort of their visitors. That is their intent, at least.

The news is often depressing, violent, and graphic. People in waiting areas don’t want to see how many people died in a shooting. They don’t want to see endless political commentary, graphic images of injured or fearful human beings, or a news story about something bad that happened close by. Nothing says “I’ll think twice about coming here next time” than a string of recent crimes in the area.

Channels like the Food Network, HGTV, and E! are tame by comparison, but no less important to keep in mind. Visitors have called these networks boring and frustrating. People have never been more sensitive to the smallest things than they are today; they’ve also never been more able to express those fleeting feelings of frustration over social media and online reviews. Something they saw on your TV, which has nothing to do with your business, could be the reason they go online and rant about their “bad experience”. As a result, you’ll lose potential customers who decide to go somewhere based on reviews.

It’s impossible to please 100% of the people 100% of the time, especially with services like cable or DirecTV. However waiting room TV software exists that gives you control over what’s on your TV; allowing you to cater to the interests of many, as opposed to few.

When Using Medical TV…

In the case of hospitals, clinics, or medical offices, sometimes what’s on the TV isn’t cable, but rather a looping medical display. These programs are detailed, informative, yet very often graphic, anxiety driving or depressing to waiting patients. Cross-sections of the human body, graphic imagery of a clogged artery, or a bold adventure down a 3D-rendered infected colon are not what visitors want to see. This is the sort of content that visitors are watching on your TV if you subscribe to medical waiting room television.

It’s gross, it’s unsettling, and if you’re lucky it’s not looping every 5 minutes. If this is going on in your waiting room, take a moment to sit in the chairs as if you were a patient. Watch the TV, and really consider if this sort of programming is actually improving visitor experience.

It’s Relevant TV, on your TV

“The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few.”

-Spock

The trick to successful waiting room TV programming is content; content that you control, which appeals to as many people as possible. A good TV display doesn’t loop. It should feature interesting videos that are family-friendly, and should be something you can trust to set it and forget it.

It’s Relevant TV is just that. It’s a custom TV network; one that you control. You pick which categories you think your visitors will enjoy, and IRTV does the rest; providing you with non-looping, family-friendly content that is short-form, meaning that chances are high that someone will see a program that interests them during the time they spend waiting.

It’s Relevant puts visitors in a good mood, that helps lead to a good experience, which turns into repeat business. We no longer live in an age where standard TV channels are the only thing that can go on a TV.

Do more for your business by doing more with your TV.

Striving to modernize your hospital is an essential task, but it doesn’t have to be a difficult one. With a new age of technology that has given us countless innovative ways to improve our lives and businesses, figuring out where to begin may seem daunting; nevertheless, this article will explore the top 5 ways to bring your hospital into the 21st century.

Modernize your Hospital: Where to Begin?

Improving your hospital begins with improving patient experience, and patient experience begins in the waiting room. A comfortable, modern-style waiting room is the key to improving your hospital as a whole. The following 5 points will show you how you can achieve that goal:

5.) Forward Thinking:

Favoring progession, exploring innovative technologies, and investing in new ways of doing things is the first step towards bringing your hospital into the new age. First and foremost, it’s important to recognize that things change. Change can be difficult, but it’s a good thing. Keeping up with technology lets you keep up with your patients; by staying in the past, you’re disconnecting yourself from them. Do some research, explore your options, and see what’s out there!

4.) Communication & Productivity:

The ways in which we’re able to communicate with one another has evolved greatly over the years. When it comes to your hospital, improving the ways in which you’re able to communicate with patients, and staff, is a great step towards forward thinking.

In an evolving culture where emails are missed and ignored, hospitals are looking for new ways to communicate with their staff in places they’ll notice important messaging. At the same time, they’re exploring new ways to inform patients of important reminders, services they could be utilizing, and overall reasons to come back and improve their health and overall well-being. If you’re curious where to start, there’s no better way to get someone’s attention than the TV.

3.) Decour & Ambiance:

Never underestimate the power of interior decorating, because nothing leaves a lasting impression quite like a first impression. A few well-placed plants, some hanging portraits, and a TV, can make or break a waiting room. It’s all about atmosphere. Making sure there are decorative features to fill blank spaces, comfy chairs to sit in, no unsettling stains or holes in the wall, and something good on the TV; all of these are important factors to consider when modernizing your hospital.

2.) Patient Comfort:

Ensuring that patient comfort is up to par should come at no surprise, a good health center puts its patients first. Hearkening back to the idea that patient experience begins in the waiting room, it goes without saying that comfortability is closer to the top of the list.

The key is generating a positive experience that won’t leave patients feeling nervous, stressed out, or worse than they were when they arrived. There are many new and innovative ways to generate that kind of positive experience, but the most effective means is through your waiting room TV. The right TV service can make all the difference in the end. Finding one that works for you often means moving away from cable, boring slideshows, or unsettling medical content.

1.) Technology:

There’s no better way to modernize your hospital than modernizing your technology. This starts with the TVs in your waiting room. Not the TVs themselves, but what’s on them.

As many hospitals strive to keep up with patient demand, many are forgetting to bring their TVs the modern age – settling for an antiquated solution instead. Cable, and looping medical displays, are holding hospitals back when their TVs could be doing so much more for them and their patients. We’re no longer in an age where the only thing that can go on the TV is cable, and we’re well beyond needing to settle for cheap, all0medical-related content. Take some time to explore cable alternatives that are out there for hospitals to take advantage of, and see how you could improve your hospital.

Modernize your Hospital with It’s Relevant TV

Utilizing It’s Relevant TV is an easy step in the right direction to bring your hospital’s waiting room into the 21st century. A new and innovative approach to waiting room TVs, It’s Relevant provides hospitals with a custom TV network; one that you control. With content that is interesting, family-friendly, and spread across 40+ categories to pick and choose from – that generates a more welcoming environment, and gives patients a pleasant distraction as they wait for treatment.

It’s Relevant is forward thinking. It combines the best aspects of television and digital signage in order to deliver a final product which improves patient experience, and allows you to engage with them, and your staff, on levels otherwise impossible with cable TV, or medical TV displays. It’s also future-proof, because the service and technology evolves with the times.

Explore It’s Relevant TV, and see how it could transform your waiting room TVs.