Improve Hospital Staff Morale with Digital Signage

Employees in a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital routinely deal in life-and-death situations, and sometimes events can feel like they are happening too fast. This can cause an undue amount of stress on your busy staff and de-motivate them, so staff morale has to be a priority.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow defined a hierarchy of needs, where the lower level needs must be met before the higher levels ones can be focused on. These are: physiological (food, sleep), safety (shelter, lack of danger), belonging (being part of a group), esteem (self-worth and recognition from others) and self-actualization (achieving one’s full individual potential).

Hospitals usually have mechanisms in place for the first two (rotating shifts, rest areas and on-site beds, cafeterias, safety systems and procedures, etc.), but the higher-level needs can often get overlooked in a hectic hospital environment. You can leverage your digital signage system to help meet these needs for your teams, helping them achieve their full potential.

Safety

Although there are usually rigorous procedures in place to ensure staff safety, your digital signage can augment this by doubling as an alert system. Screens can be taken over to flash emergency alerts when events like severe weather threaten your facility. With just the push of a button, warnings and instructions can be sent to individual screens or every display in your system, instantly informing people where to go and what to do. Your signs can also remind workers of important safety procedures in an unobtrusive way – just putting a couple of items in your break room playlists will reinforce what they should be doing without any individual feeling like they have been singled out by his/her boss.

Belonging

You can use your digital signage to create a sense of community. Showing daily announcements, room schedules, facility updates and other internal information lets everyone feel that they are working in an environment of transparency and openness, and keeps everyone informed and up to date. Highlight individuals with a series of employee spotlights and welcome messages for new employees, or focus on your facility with the history of the building and founders, number of employees or open beds. This lets people feel more connected to coworkers and reminds them that they are part of something larger.

Esteem

Display your staff’s achievements like awards, new certifications, progress towards goals, etc. Put up testimonials from satisfied patients, press releases or positive webpage reviews from internet sources, such as Google or Facebook. Remind your people that what they do matters, and that when they go above and beyond, it’s noticed and appreciated.

Self-Actualization

Using digital signs to inform your staff of training opportunities gives them an avenue for self-advancement, and makes them feel like they work for a place that sees them as valuable resources. Posting internal job openings and opportunities for advancement also feeds the need to grow their careers.

When your employees walk through your facility and are exposed to messages like these on your big screens, they feel secure and able to focus on their work with higher staff morale and contentment. And a well-planned digital signage system makes this an easy thing to accomplish, start creating your solution today.