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Satellite, Cable, IPTV, oh my!

Where does one start to understand how to provide excellent TV options to entertain and inform patients who are in the hospital bed or enduring long hours of treatment? The choices may seem overwhelming if you are just beginning the process of choosing a TV system to delight your patients.

PDi has spent 40 years satisfying patients with TV technology solutions. We have outlined a few helpful tips we use when helping people understand broadcast signal choices, other input sources, and TV technology options for healthcare.

Healthcare providers know how important a safe, great experience is for patients and their overall satisfaction. Providers are often looking for new and different ways to delight patients because patient satisfaction impacts care and the hospital’s reputation (think HCAHP scores and patient surveys). 

One creative solution that benefits the healthcare experience is to roll in entertainment and telehealth solutions to patients. Growing in popularity, telehealth and entertainment healthcare carts are being used more often in many types of facilities to delight patients and provide a safe experience.

The right cart solutions can benefit a healthcare facility by being easily managed by staff, moving to patients while being space efficient, and ready to withstand rugged healthcare needs.

How many times have you created a handout and printed the final copies, just to get a call with more edits? That is incredibly common in many fields of work, especially in healthcare where things constantly change. In today’s fast paced, information filled world, some communication moves too fast for print. 

As we are offered more resources digitally and many people move towards decluttered, minimalist lifestyles, paper can often feel like a burden. Plus, since the COVID-19 pandemic, many people see paper in a much different way - more like a potential germ vehicle passing through multiple hands.

Luckily, utilizing smart technology, such as digital displays, in place of paper is beneficial in many scenarios and has become more commonplace, i.e. restaurant menus, building location signage or digital business cards. Similar digital displays allow healthcare facilities personnel to share important messages to patients, visitors and even staff.

It may feel like you should be able to easily choose just any TV you want for your healthcare facility. We do that for our homes, why not in a place that should be comforting like home? Healthcare-grade TVs are different, and for good reason. 

Have you ever considered the legal consequences of a patient receiving shock and injury from a consumer-grade television used in a healthcare environment? Have you considered the risk of an electrical fire from a TV at your facility? Do you realize patient TVs at healthcare facilities will naturally be powered on for longer periods of time as compared to typical consumer TV usage at home? In fact, Healthcare-grade TVs run typically 3x longer per day! 

Designed for patient safety and for the unique stresses of the healthcare environment, hospital TVs offer facility managers and providers the following benefits: 

• reduced risks with increased safety designs; 
• reduced labor with easy setup, remote management or cloning for ease of operation, and affordable upgrades; 
• universal pillow speaker capability and volume control features to reduce noise on the floor;
• and standardization across the network.

Fun isn’t typically the first thought that comes to mind when thinking about a hospital stay or an outpatient visit. Patients often find themselves bored or even stressed and anxious without ways to distract and entertain themselves during treatment. Luckily, healthcare-grade TVs offer an entertaining technology solution that is engaging and safe for your patients.

Did you ever think about the safety of a patient TV? With PDi, it doesn’t have to be a difficult task. 

You've probably heard about Power-over-Ethernet and some of the benefits of PoE.  Are you ready to learn more about this cost-effective and forward-thinking technology for use in hospital televisions? 

Here are the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions.

The patient experience is incredibly important at health treatment centers or infusion clinics where patients typically spend hours receiving treatment. At times, these hours can turn into boredom. Sure, patients can bring their own phones, books to read, or puzzles to do, but depending on the treatment, they may not be comfortable or able to use both of their arms the whole time. 

Imagine being a patient with so many entertainment options that you lose track of time while you’re receiving care. You’re surprised when nurses come to take your vitals because you’ve been so engrossed in the game you were playing. Instead of stressing over your next test, you’ve been watching relaxation content and are calm and collected.

Patient experience matters.

PDi understands that. Trusted for 40 years, US-based PDi satisfies patients in a variety of healthcare spaces with our long history of design and manufacturing complete patient television systems. 

Patients deserve excellent care in many ways during their healthcare journey. That care comes through many things like individuals, medicine, and even patient-facing technology. In fact, patient television technology designed for patient use helps satisfy patients and engage them directly in their care

The patient experience of care is far-reaching and includes everything from phone calls with healthcare staff to the clinical care they receive to how they spend their time during treatment. Excellence is the standard. There are three key ways that patients in all healthcare spaces should have technology to support their care experience: entertainment, engagement and education.