One area where digital signage has really taken off is the use of display advertising in hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, dentists and other health locations.
A lot of health centres now have dual purpose screens deployed. Commonly these are installed by big media networks such as Amscreen in the UK, and to no cost to the medical centre and are used to display advertising and promotional content, as well as displaying messages from the surgery such as the next appointment slot, or health advice.
The great advantage for advertisers in this approach is that the audience is both targeted (in a healthcare setting so ideal for advertising health related products and services) and captive (these displays are commonly in waiting rooms).
But its not only advertising that screens are being deployed in medical settings for. Modern LCD and plasma displays, due to their slender nature and falling cost, are now a common sight in hospitals and medical settings as a means of deploying information.
Wayfinding, opening times and even car park instructions displayed in outdoor digital signage are a common sight around hospitals and modern screens have other uses too.
Watching TV is an important service hospitals offer to patients and modern screens are ideal for this as they are small, light and portable.
For communal areas, LCD TVs are often made permanent fixtures and are often installed in LCD enclosures. This is not normally to protect the screen from damage (although its helpful to do so) but more so to ensure any vulnerable adults or people with psychiatric disorders can’t use the screen as a weapon or hurt themselves on it.
LCD enclosures have also been used to protect screens in clean areas. Several operating theatres now record procedures and display them on screens to students, which prevents the need of having unnecessary people in the operating theatre, whilst enabling the young surgeons to still learn.
