In this increasingly fast-paced, interconnected world, patients expect health care facilities that offer high levels of service, exceptional quality, and convenience. To meet these demands, providers must find ways to quickly and efficiently move patients through each component of the health system, without negatively affecting patient care or satisfaction. However, the incredible volume of patients and high demands of physicians and other medical professionals make this an incredibly complex task.
As projected healthcare spending is expected to top $4.5 trillion by 2019, more and more healthcare facilities are implementing self-service and other healthcare kiosk solutions to reduce costs, increase staff efficiency, provide better patient care, and improve revenue cycles. In fact, a recent study reveals that 86% of organizations plan on spending more on self-service technology in the next five years, and this trend is expected to continue for healthcare facilities well into the future.
Touch-based interfaces are propelling innovations in patient self-service and healthcare kiosk solutions for medical facilities across a wide range of departments. These innovations are changing the way healthcare providers meet patients’ needs, while providing a return on investment from improved operational efficiencies and payment collection.
Optimize Patient Check In
A new patient arriving at your medical facility encounters a very familiar situation: checking in at the doctor’s office early to allow ample time to fill out a significant stack of required forms and questionnaires. If a patient has appointments spread throughout the day, that frustrating task may have to be repeated multiple times. This is one of the most time-consuming activities during a patient’s visit to the doctor’s office. In addition, the time it takes for the patient to fill out forms can be significantly greater than the time he or she would spend face-to-face talking to the doctor and other healthcare professionals.
Aside from being a challenge for patients, these forms are a significant source of preventable medical errors for doctors and other healthcare staff. This is because once the required forms are completed, an office worker must accurately transcribe a patient’s answers into a computer. This can be a challenging task and sometimes leads to inaccurate information being added to the patient’s file.
Healthcare kiosks dedicated to patient check-in can be successfully implemented in your medical facility to make activities such as registration and payment collection much easier for patients and more efficient for your medical staff. New touch screen kiosks can confirm a patient’s identity and coverage, enable patients to read and sign electronic forms, including consent and privacy forms, and allow patients to easily update their personal information. This can have a significant impact on the quality of patient care and satisfaction by reducing errors and time patients spend in the waiting room. A patient survey conducted by Kaiser Permanente found that a majority of patients who used kiosks at check-in had a successful experience. As far as time savings are concerned, on average, medical kiosks decrease time patients spent in the waiting room by 70%.
More Intuitive Wayfinding
The complexity of medical campuses can be problematic for patients and visitors looking to quickly reach their appointments and destinations. That is why it’s not surprising that close to 30% of first-time patients to healthcare facilities manage to get lost somewhere along the way. Aside from taking up valuable time, these experiences add an extra layer of anxiety to an already high-stress environment, and stressed patients are more likely to report decreased customer satisfaction.
In the past, most healthcare facilities relied on static maps and directories to guide the patient/visitor journey. Some even added color-coding, flooring cues, and symbols. But for most patients and visitors, especially those who spoke a different language, such efforts provided little more than supplemental assistance.
To help your patients and visitors quickly locate destinations and critical information throughout your facility, healthcare kiosks equipped with interactive wayfinding and touch screen technology provide an intuitive solution. Today’s touch screens can offer your patients and visitors interactive maps and information in their native language with a single touch. They can also withstand continuous use, spills, and have the ability to work with your existing digital signage, so you can save on costs.
Increase Patient Access to Wellness Information
One of the most important ways healthcare kiosks are being used to improve patient care is by acting as resource centers for wellness information and patient education.
Normally, this task would fall on already busy healthcare staff or involve supplying patients with costly printed materials that wind up littering waiting room floors. However, more healthcare facilities are discovering the utility that touch screen kiosks offer patients with questions regarding their medical conditions and individual needs. Other than providing useful information, these kiosks can also help patients pass the time in the waiting room.
In addition, more advanced kiosks can even perform several different basic diagnostic services, such as checking vital signs and glucose levels, so patients can get the most out of their appointments.
Baanto’s ShadowSense touch screens provide powerful multi-touch capabilities for healthcare kiosks. With technology that can detect touch inputs from any source and discriminate between valid input sources, your healthcare facility can provide patients with the resources and information they need to get the most out of each visit. Our interfaces are designed for screens from 8” to 267”, making it easy to add touch functionality to monitors throughout your facility. ShadowSense provides uninterrupted performance regardless of lighting conditions, and can withstand harsh treatment and chemicals without any problems. Get in touch with a member of our team to find out more about how touch screen solutions can improve patient care today.