Digital signage for healthcare: queues, waits, visiting hours and alerts without patient names

A hospital or clinic is many small audiences. Each screen shows what the people in front of it need, and nothing else.

Apps lists every ready-made app. Your own photos, videos and slides play on the same screens.

A healthcare screen is a public display, so it should say less than the record does. The apps are built that way:

• Queues show tickets. Now serving shows a letter and a number, the counter and the last few calls.
• Pharmacy pickup shows tickets or initials, never a name or a medication. It also shows the window and how long each order has waited.
• Surgery status shows a code and a stage, from checked in to ready to visit. No names are shown.
• Blood supply shows stock by blood type only, never donor names, appointments or patient information.
• Patient whiteboard keeps name display off by default, and a snapshot that is cleared, expired or over-age loses its patient details.

Your agent only receives what you give it, and the screen shows only what it receives. Decide with your privacy officer what may appear on a public screen, and keep names, reasons for a visit and anything from a record in the systems built for them.

The waiting room is where most healthcare signage starts. The screen shows the ticket being served, the current waits and the opening hours, and your agent can set every queue number to expire after two minutes unless the desk's system refreshes it, so a screen never keeps showing a ticket that was called long ago. Waiting room TV has the whole walk-through, with screenshots from a clinic run, and covers dental offices and general practice too.

At a pharmacy counter, Pharmacy pickup lists orders ready to collect by ticket, and Vaccines today shows the vaccines given today, by walk-in or appointment, with the next open slot and walk-ins first. For a pharmacy chain with ad breaks and proof of play, watch the pharmacy film.

Visiting status shows a ward's visiting at a glance: open, restricted or closed, with today's hours, visitor rules and any outbreak notice. Surgery status is a family waiting board that shows each patient's code and stage, from checked in to ready to visit. Patient whiteboard shows one supplied bedside snapshot: the care team, goals and the day's plan with completion states, which staff provide. The Occupancy app shows people inside against capacity, which suits a waiting room that has a limit.

Hospitals are hard to cross. A Directory lists departments with their floor and suite, Wayfinding draws large arrows with walking times, and a map pin shows where you are. Wayfinding and digital directories walks through all three, and a floor of consulting rooms can show room signs as well.

An Emergency message has ready-made wording for evacuate, lockdown, shelter-in-place, severe weather, medical and all clear, and it takes over every screen with a tag. Your emergency notification system can also send alerts that take the tagged screens over by themselves, and a cancel or all-clear gives them back. A screen notice supports the procedures you already have and does not replace your paging or alarm systems. Emergency alert screens explains how.

Staff screens are for staff, so choose where they hang. The Announcement app carries rotating notices that end by themselves, Who's on shows who is on shift or on call with the time left, and Stretch break and Breathe guide a short break with a shared countdown. In public areas, Respiratory activity shows local flu, COVID-19 and RSV levels with their trend, and Drug alerts shows recalls and shortages, most serious first. A Donor wall recognises supporters by tier.

Does it handle patient information?

screenRIG is signage, not a records system. Your agent sends a screen only the tickets, codes and general information you choose, and the apps for queues, pharmacy pickup and surgery status take codes and tickets. Keep names and clinical detail out of anything a screen shows, and ask your privacy officer what may appear on a public screen.

Does it connect to our queue system or electronic health record?

screenRIG has no built-in connector for a queue system or an electronic health record. The desk's system can tell your agent, or a small script on the desk's side can post calls to the screen through a card's webhook address. Waiting room TV shows one doing it.

What does the screen show when the internet is out?

Each Player downloads its content once and replays it from the device's own storage, so a dropped network does not stop it. Pages that need live data, such as a queue, expire when their source goes quiet, and the pages after them keep playing, including the opening hours.

Which screens can a clinic or hospital use?

Any screen with a Player: a TV with Google TV or Android TV built in, an Amazon Signage Stick, a Raspberry Pi, a Mac, a Windows PC, a Samsung or LG signage display or any browser. Players lists them.

Can one agent run screens across several sites?

Yes. Tag each site's screens, such as StAnnes or Ward4, and one request reaches every screen with the tag. If you want an approver to see changes first, turn on review, and each change waits for approval before it plays.

What does healthcare digital signage cost?

screenRIG is free, with unlimited screens. Paid plans add business tools, more people, people to talk to, governance and contract terms. See pricing.

Start, pair one waiting-room TV and ask your agent for the queue page first, with numbers that go off after two minutes of silence.