Patient entertainment system
Next generation of hospital entertainment systems
In order to make the stay of patients as pleasant as possible, most hospitals and clinics have implemented hospital entertainment systems. About 15 years ago these systems were nothing more than just a ceiling mounted TV at the foot end of the bed. Due to the increasing use of the internet, these systems became more and more advanced. Nowadays a standard entertainment system is a dedicated panel PC with a touch screen that is mounted on a ceiling pendant to position it close to the patient. These systems usually integrate many functions like TV, radio, telephone, games and the use of internet. Today we are ready for the next innovation in patient entertainment. Jansen Medicars has developed a new hospital entertainment concept.
Currently available systems
When having a look at the currently available patient entertainment systems, it is clear that these are not based on the latest state of technology. Because the market for this specific entertainment systems is relatively small, it is not possible to quickly follow the innovations that we see for the high volume commercial applications and systems. For instance many of the hospital entertainment systems still have a low screen resolution (640x480 or 800x600) while 4k (7680x4320) is already available for commercial TV’s. As a result most of the installed, but also the new to order patient entertainment systems, are very outdated. Since technological developments follow each other in quick succession, this is not expected to get better. However, it will greatly improve the experience when the latest technology is available for the patient.
Connecting devices of the patient
In addition, there is also an increase in the use of mobile devices by the public. This results in patients bringing their own smart phone, tablet or notebook computer to the hospital, clinic or rehabilitation center. Practically they prefer the use of their own devices over the available entertainment system, resulting in a decline in the use of hospital entertainment systems. This is also exacerbated by the lack of a modern digital video inputs on the existing entertainment systems, like HDMI.
Solution: minimize functionality
A good way to deal with the above addressed issues is to reduce the functionality of the entertainment system to a standard available TV, and to provide a connection between this TV and the patient’s devices. Standard a wired connection can be provided to connect for instance a notebook or a game computer. But more interesting is the use of Chromecast or Apple TV to connect wireless to the patient’s smart phone or tablet. This way streaming services such as YouTube and Spotify become available as well as other applications installed on the mobile devices. Because Chromecast and Apple TV are connected with HDMI, there is a choice of how they are presented to the patient:
- it can be standard available inside the entertainment system;
- it can be rented from the hospital/clinic and added to one of the available HDMI inputs;
- instead of hiring it, the patients can also use their own systems.
More advanced & lower costs
The use of a standard commercially available TV has some clear advantages. The high resolution screen and the possibility to connect mobile devices provides a more interesting platform for the patient. It offers more features than the current systems, resulting in a better entertainment experience and a nicer stay. In addition this solution is also much better priced: a TV that fits well in this application is available for very low cost.
Ceiling mount system
For a good implementation of this system, the TV needs to be located close to the patient. In most cases a ceiling arm is used, which gives the patient the possibility to optimize the position of the screen. Analysis of the available arm systems shows that there are situations where the arm has insufficient freedom of movement. Therefore improvements are needed to optimize the arm for all possible screen positions.
In most cases it will be sufficient to position the monitor in front of a sitting or lying patient. A standard available arm system will do a good job for this set-up. However, in some situations the patient is not able to watch the screen in these positions. For instance when a patient is only capable to lie on his side or flat on his back, the freedom of movement of a standard available ceiling/wall pendant is not sufficient. This becomes very clear when a system is setup in a rehabilitation center where patients are hospitalized for a spinal cord lesion. These patients are often paralyzed, which makes the freedom of movement of the screen very important. The position where the monitor screen faces down for patients lying flat on their back, and the landscape / portrait rotation for patients lying on their side, are always missing. To fulfill these requirements, Jansen Medicars has developed an new arm system that enables the monitor to be positioned in every possible position a patient requires.
Interested?
This new concept for patient entertainment provides a cost effective solution using the latest state of art in visualization with the best possible entertainment experience for all patients.
Please feel free to contact us for an appointment or a quotation.
Bron: Jansen Medicars
