How Interactive Wayfinding Kiosks Are Shaping a Better Patient Check-In Experience
In the healthcare industry, technology has a long history of improving hospital efficiency, operations, and patient care. Today, it stands to revolutionize the way patients engage with their healthcare experience from the moment they walk through a hospital’s doors. How? By simplifying and streamlining the appointment check-in process.
Currently, most patients regard the act of checking in at a hospital with unconcealed distaste. Take a look at any check-in line the next time you pass through a waiting room — do the patients look thrilled? Hardly.
Long lines and tedious paperwork make check-ins a cringe-worthy yet unavoidable part of seeing a healthcare provider. And while it’s true that healthcare appointments will always require some sort of system for notifying providers of patient arrivals, the current system is sorely outdated. Interactive wayfinding kiosks offer a better way. Let’s take a look at why below.
Interactive Wayfinding Kiosks Aren’t Just for Navigation
While their name points to their wayfinding technology, navigation isn’t the only capability these interactive digital kiosks boast. Digital wayfinding kiosks can serve a number of functions within a healthcare facility, including:
● Self-serve check-in kiosk
● Distributing important news and updates throughout the facility
● Providing patient education
● Self-serve appointment scheduling and medication reminders
● Providing patient entertainment to reduce perceived wait times
When it comes to wayfinding software design and functionality, the options are virtually unlimited in terms of what you can do with these multifaceted machines. With efficient design, they can help transform the patient experience from start to finish.
Self-Serve Check-In Improves Administrative Efficiency
Long lines and piles of check-in paperwork make the administrative side of the check-in process much less efficient than it should be. With interactive wayfinding kiosks, patients can check themselves in and complete all necessary forms digitally.
With self-serve kiosks, desk staff can focus their attention on administrative tasks like insurance verifications, patient call-backs, prescription call-ins, and several other duties that pile up throughout the average day. With more time on their hands, those staff members are also available to tend to patients who truly need assistance, such as the elderly and those with mobility or accessibility issues.
Interactive Kiosks Improve Patient Satisfaction
These days, many adults enjoy their autonomy when it comes to public interactions. They’re capable, efficient, and prefer to complete their tasks with as little wait and interference as possible.
Consider the popularity of self-serve check-outs in retail stores — would they have caught on if adults didn’t prefer to handle things themselves? The same idea applies to the check-in process at healthcare facilities.
The majority of patients report excessive time spent in the waiting room is the most dissatisfying part of their healthcare experience. It follows then, that reducing those wait times stands to improve patient satisfaction considerably. With interactive wayfinding kiosks, patients who prefer an autonomous experience can complete the check-in process quickly. And of course, those who want assistance can interact more heavily with staff.
Both types of patients get their needs met in a more efficient fashion, which helps boost patient satisfaction from the get-go.
Digital Kiosks Provide Secure Information Access
Interactive wayfinding kiosks can integrate with providers’ back office and EMR software systems, ensuring all patient information is kept secure and HIPAA compliant. With secure, self-serve access to their healthcare info, patients can:
● Update their personal information in the system
● Schedule follow-up visits and set appointment reminders
● Review any necessary healthcare instructions from their provider
● Access health records
● Verify medications
● Much more
Curious About Interactive Hospital Wayfinding? Contact Oppna Digital
Ready to discover how interactive wayfinding kiosks and digital signage solutions can improve the patient experience at your healthcare facility? Let our team at Oppna Digital show you. Feel free to schedule a demo today or give us a call at 651-237-6577. You can also contact us online with any questions, and we’ll be in touch.