Posted on Thu, Aug 26, 2010
Hospital-grade televisions and consumer-grade televisions share many characteristics. However, hospital-grade televisions must meet more stringent requirements for use in patient rooms and are tested by Underwriter Laboratores to be "UL-Listed".
Hospital-grade televisions offer many more features than consumer-grade televisions.
Nurse Call Interface
Hospital-grade televisions have pillow speaker connections built-in to accommodate the use of pillow speakers, which are integrated with nurse call systems. Pillow speakers allow patients and staff to communicate inside the hospital.
Cleaning
Hospital-grade televisions can be cleaned with special cleaners such as Viraguard to promote a healthy environment.
Clone Progamming
Because tens or hundreds of TVs are often installed at one time in hospitals, programming televisions to the hospital's liking can be time consuming. Cloning TV settings speeds up installation time dramatically. Most hospital-grade televisions have USB cloning capabilities, meaning the settings can saved to a USB flash drive and loaded onto each TV within seconds.
Longevity
Hospital-grade TVs are made to endure more use than consumer-grade televisions.
Warranty
Hospital-grade televisions typically have a two year warranty, which is substantially longer than consumer-grade televisions.
Other Unique Features
- Rounded corners for patient and staff safety
- Front button keypad
- Thin client capabilities
- IPTV/ multimedia capabilities
- FM Radio
- Battery-backed clock
- Upgradeable hardware and software
For more information on HCI's hospital-grade televisions, visit www.hci-tv.com.
Posted on Thu, Jul 22, 2010
Today’s hospital market is incredibly competitive. Because most patients have a choice of the hospital they want to use for their procedures and illnesses, facilities are investing in advertising or using other creative marketing to differentiate their hospital from the competition. Patients are apt to choose a hospital where they or someone they know have had a positive experience. And with HCAHPS scores becoming increasingly important, hospitals are looking very closely at increasing patient satisfaction overall.
Creating the Positive Patient Experience
With the advent of the internet and other “instant” technology, patients have a stronger need than ever before to be informed. This is especially true when it comes to their health. For instance, many expectant mothers read books and online forums voraciously during their pregnancy. At the hospital, they ask a variety of questions about their bodies and their new baby. New mothers see a variety of doctors (Ob/Gyn, Pediatrician and others if necessary) and specialists (lactation consultant, etc). Keeping new mothers and fathers informed, educated and entertained is key to the patient experience.
Inform Patients
Patients spend a lot of time waiting….waiting to see the doctor, waiting in the waiting room, waiting for test results. Why not inform ER patients of current wait times? By using technology like MediaCare, the hospital staff can push messages like “current wait time is 30 minutes” to waiting room televisions. Patients will be less aggravated if they know what’s going on rather than guessing.
Educate Patients
There are many ways to educate patients – through one-on-one consultations, written documents, books, or video. Education relating to patients’ conditions or procedures can be reinforced through the use of educational videos. Patients can play, pause, and rewind educational content on demand using in-room IPTVs. Patients will most likely appreciate the education.
Entertain Patients (and Visitors)
Going back to waiting…the average inpatient hospital stay is four days. A lot of that time is spent waiting and resting. This applies not just to patients, but to visitors, too. Providing video on demand with IPTVs will keep many patients (especially children) happy and provide entertainment to family and friends.
The best way to increase patient satisfaction is to put yourself in the shoes of the patient. There are many ways to accomplish making patients happy. Using technology is one step in the right direction.
Posted on Thu, Jun 17, 2010
Many healthcare providers have long worried how to best entertain and educate their dialysis patients. There are new options available using the dialysis clinics' patient televisions.
Patient Entertainment
Dialysis staff and volunteers have used traditional methods to entertain patients, such as providing TV channels, puzzles, books, magazines, playing cards, and even knitting materials. There are more options, however, with the patient television. Many televisions, such as HCI's BedMate Televisions, have built-in DVD players and inputs to connect gaming systems, iPods, or other devices. They can also provide video on demand (by accessing libraries of movies) and the internet.
Patient Education
Patients can also view educational content relevant to their conditions using the dialysis center's televisions. Although traditional methods of staff consultation and printed material should not be abandoned, patient education can be reinforced through the use of educational videos. Dialysis patients can watch videos about diabetes, chronic kidney disease, anemia, nutrition, and more. Patients can also be given condition and treatment fact sheets, which can be sourced from copmanies like ExitCare. Educational material can be stored digitally in a central location and networked to patient televisions if using internet protocol televisions. Patients view educational material right from the television while they receive dialysis.
Some of the best real estate in both patient rooms and dialysis clinic chairs are the patient televisions. Utilizing them for both patient entertainment and education can lead to more informed, happier patients.
Posted on Tue, May 18, 2010
Thin Client computing is not new to hospitals. In fact, it is estimated that 80% of hospitals have thin client farms. However, thin clients traditionally have not been used to deliver programs to patient rooms. With today's technology, it is possible to provide this service to patient rooms via in the in-room television. HCI Internet Protocol Televisions (IPTVs) have built-in thin client computing capabilities. This means patients can receive a lot of functionality without any extra hardware in their hospital room.
How it Works
The HCI Thin Client is a program that runs on the TV that relies on a server computer, under control of the hospitals IT department, to do most of its work. The HCI thin client is part of a network, and the client software acts as an interface, while the network server computer does all the real work. The HCI thin client, when selected, connects to a more powerful network server, and the server computer provides the rest of the computing horsepower. The TV then acts like a monitor, keyboard and mouse of a stand alone computer.
The Patient Experience
Patients can easilty access thin client applications, such as the internet by pressing a button in the TV home screen with their pillow speaker or remote. The internet can be navigated using a keyboard/ mouse. Patients see all the data and tools they would on a stand-alone computer. They can:
- Browse the internet
- Play games
- Check e-mail
- Access the InnovaTV Patient Portal (IPP) if installed, which grants the ability to order movies on demand, purchase from the gift shop, send service requests, and more
Benefits of Using Thin Client
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Eliminates the need for PCs at each patient television, saving both time and money
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Patients can stay in touch with family and friends via the internet
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Hospitals can realize a higher ROI by utilizing less server hardware
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Single Point of administration means less headache for IT staff
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Thin Client devices outlast PCs because they have no moving parts or fans
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Increased security means less risk of viruses and data
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Lower power consumption means less electricity usage and heat generation
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Licensing is easier to manage from a central server
It has been said that the definition of an IT nightmare is hundreds of users on hundreds of different PCs. Providing patients and visitors access to the internet and other popular computer applications can enhance the hospital experience. The most efficient way to deliver this favorite application is through the use of a thin client network.
Learn more or download HCI's Thin Client brochure.
Posted on Fri, May 14, 2010
Traditionally, healthcare facilities have used TVs and VCR/ DVD players on large carts to deliver education to patients. The dirty, contaminated carts that have been handled by many hands are wheeled into patient rooms for patients to watch VHS tapes or DVDs. The hospital may only have a one or two copies of each video, therefore making other patients wait while the video is in use.
Hospital staff is burdened with finding videos, and TV carts, wheeling them to the patient, and making the content play for patients. This process uses valuable staff time, which is better utilized performing clinical tasks.
With the advent of video of demand and internet protocol televisions, the need for TV carts is greatly diminished. In-room patient televisions, like HCI's RoomMate IPTVs can deliver content directly to the patient television. TVs have now become Teaching Vehicles.
Educational content can be delivered to the patient television in two ways - via stand-alone television or networked television.
Stand-alone Televisions
Patients can access educational content a variety of ways. By pressing the "EDU" button on the TV's front keypad, pillow speaker, or visitors station, a list of available educational videos can be listed. The files are stored directly on the TV and can be changed by hospital staff easily at any time. Alternatively, when patients press "EDU" while watching TV, the TV will display a list of the hospitals' educational channels. Content can also be accessed by inserting a USB flash drive into the TV's side USB port. The TV automatically recognizes the USB drive and will list the files on the USB drive. Nurses and other hospital staff can bring educational content to patients in a quicker, easier, cleaner manner. No network or special software is required.
Networked Televisions
Educational content can also be stored on a server. And, because IPTVs have ethernet capabilities, they can be networked. Content libraries reside on the server and can be accessed via MediaLink or MediaCare. Hospital staff can send eduational content right from the nurses station using MediaCare.
By utilizing technology, hospitals and other healthcare facilities can educate patients in a more cost-effective, cleaner way while reducing non-clinical tasks.
To learn more about HCI's education offerings, visit www.hci-tv.com.
Posted on Fri, May 14, 2010
What is IPTV?
IPTV is an acronym for Internet Protocol Television. Because IPTVs have ethernet ports, they can be networked much like computers to pull content from a server that stores content. According to Wikipedia, IPTV is classified into three main types:
- live TV
- time-shifted programming
- video on demand (VOD).
VOD comes in handy inside the healthcare setting. For example, a patient who is having heart surgery can watch a prescribed video about recovering from their procedure. Diabetic patients can watch a video about nutrition and how to regulate their blood glucose levels. There are hundreds of educational videos available for healthcare facilities to educate patients.
How is IPTV used in hospitals?
IPTV provides for a simple way for hospital staff, patients, and visitors to interact with digital content. Hospital staff can deliver educational content (i.e. x-rays or smoking cessation videos) to patients in just a few button presses. Entire libraries of educational content can be stored on one server at the hospital. This content can be distributed to:
- patient televisions
- staff lounges
- cafeterias
- waiting areas
Video on Demand in the traditional sense would be entertainment videos, which can also be distributed inside the hospital, but VOD can be educational content on demand in hospital settings.
Video on Demand also means multiple patients can view content at separate days/ times. That is, IPTV allows us to "time shift" and "place shift" our viewing. Content is not pushed out (i.e.) broadcast to all, but delivered, on request, to one. Content resides on the local network and is available anytime convenient to the patient, not scheduled by the cable operator. Content streaming is controlled by the patient-play, pause, stop, start, etc.-at the patient's convenience.
For example, patients and visitors in the hospital can select the Movie button on their in-room television. A list of available movies is shown. The patient or visitor selects the desired movie and presses play. The same movie can be accessed by multiple (tens, hundreds even) patients at the same time and at any time. There is no need for patients to wait for staff to find DVDs or VHS tapes for them. And there is no need for patients to wait for a movie to air on the hospital's movie channel. Video on demand means patients watch movies when they want to.
IPTV is a way to make patients happy.
Learn more about the difference between regular TV and IPTV.