healthcare kiosks
With kiosks in the healthcare sector it’s all about
helping people and not touting features
By Laura Miller, Director of Marketing, Kioware – www.kioware.com
A recent viral video featured a Starbucks
branch in St. Augustine in Florida that
provides video conferencing for drive-
through customers. St. Augustine
happens to be the home of The Florida
School for the Deaf and Blind – a school
dedicated to educating more than 1,000
students who are deaf/hard of hearing
or blind/visually impaired. Offering
video conferencing to hard of hearing
customers allows them to communicate
with a signing Starbucks employee. This is
a fantastic and indeed positive use of self-
service video conferencing capabilities.
Was this self-service technology ‘sold’
by touting the video conferencing feature?
Or was it a solution for serving a high-
density hearing-impaired population? The
deaf customer is unlikely to consider what
technology and features had to come
together to make the video conferencing
solution work, but they are likely
appreciative that they can independently
order their beverage.
The ability to offer video conferencing
is a fantastic tool, but the selling point in
this deployment of technology is that it
helps deaf customers obtain service in
their own language.
Helping people
In the healthcare industry, product
features, new healthcare processes and
patient processing tools are often sold
by those too focused on shiny, snazzy,
and cutting edge technological advances,
which can overshadow how technology
fills patient needs and improves their
experience. The Starbucks example
shows exactly how kiosks can assist those
with hearing impairments to receive the
assistance necessary for accessibility.
Healthcare kiosks with in person video
chat, bill payment options, educational
information, and more can offer features
like data security, restricted navigation,
and video conferencing. But what they are
ultimately providing is customer service,
or a conversation with a doctor offering
potentially life-saving information. The
telehealth and health care kiosk market
continues to grow and expand, and to
better serve doctors and healthcare
organisations kiosk industry experts
must provide not only features, but also
solutions.
Improving experience & outcomes
• Kiosks (with video conferencing) help
patients who are unable to travel
to speak with a specialist without
leaving their GP’s office.
• Video conferencing kiosks in
a doctor’s office or healthcare
setting can provide patients with a
translator to communicate medical
•
•
•
information to them in their own
language.
Kiosks can provide patients with
educational information that they
may not want to ask their doctor, or
may need more detail than a doctor
can provide such as information
about nutrition or exercise, insurance
or billing assistance, for instance.
Patients can take their time
scheduling follow up appointments
or tests, then print the relevant
instructions and take them home.
Kiosks that conduct patient surveys
and collect patient information
can be used to learn more about a
patient’s medical history, daily activity,
and potential health exposures.
This information can then be used
to positively inform a medical
professional on patient health issues
and make recommendations.
Whether we sell features or outcomes,
experiences or technologies, kiosk
software and hardware companies
must keep our eye on the end goal –
helping healthcare professionals and
facilities to assist their patients in any
way possible. In the end, the healthcare
kiosk and telehealth industries are about
helping people navigate their healthcare
experience in a positive way. n
KIOSK solutions 17