Improving Patient & Employee Comms Across Adventist Health’s Hospital Network

Introduction

When Adventist Health, an integrated health system located in the US West Coast and Hawaii, approached Poppulo in 2014 for digital signage at one of its California hospitals, the goal was to introduce public-facing screens at a single location to share information with patients and visitors. At first, the IT team managed all aspects of digital signage, including content. Over time, it became clear there was demand for digital signage systemwide. The flexibility of the software enabled expansion into additional applications, like employee-facing signage. As the network grew, the Marketing and Communications team was a natural partner to assume responsibility for content management.

The Challenge

Historically, the process of deploying content to the company’s digital signage was manual and time-consuming. Lengthy training was also required to learn to use the software. While the IT and MarCom team enjoyed Poppulo’s powerful digital signage authoring capabilities and advanced data integrations, monthly content updates took up to two full business days to complete. Additionally, all content requests had to go through one person. This slowed down both the process of getting screens updated quickly, and the development of new digital signage applications.

Jen Jacobs joined the Digital Marketing team at Adventist Health in 2018. Her main responsibility was to manage content for the growing digital signage network. But in order to truly expand the network to other facilities in the system, there needed to be a way for local contributors to manage their own signage.

Adventist Health needed a simpler way to update their screens. After exploring the new functionality offered by Poppulo Harmony Signage Cloud, it was clear that a cloud-based approach to digital signage management was the answer.

The Solution

In January 2021, Jen began the process of migrating to Harmony Cloud with the support of the Poppulo team. By the beginning of February, the migration was complete. Jen began enjoying the benefits of migrating to Harmony Cloud immediately.

Poppulo Harmony Cloud’s user interface is so beautiful, intuitive, and easy to use—when there’s a problem with a screen, I’m even able to fix it from my phone.” –Jen Jacobs, Digital Marketing Manager at Adventist Health

Adventist Health's number of screens had grown organically over eight years. It was the move to Harmony Signage Cloud that boosted expansion by finally enabling multiple people to contribute content and manage screens. After the migration, Jen distributed 20 licenses to contributors in different locations, allowing each market to manage their own content. When a new contributor is added, Jen sends them a tutorial document and walks them through a 15-minute training - something that was not possible pre-migration.

Everyone saw the value and benefit of local content contribution, and everyone wanted more. They’re already creating this digital content—why not share it on digital signage and get it in front of more eyes?”—Jen Jacobs, Digital Marketing Manager at Adventist Health

One challenge the team faced related to growth was finding budget to purchase new hardware. However, digital signage is an effective tool for patient education. In some locations they applied for grants to fund the hardware needed for screens to keep patients informed (COVID-19 prevention, vaccine education, etc.). This enabled the network to grow even more rapidly.

As the digital signage network continued to expand, so did the variety of use cases. Today, Adventist Health powers its patient-facing and employee-facing screens, including wayfinding, directories, welcome screens, video walls, breakroom signage, menus, lobby installations, and other custom use cases with the Harmony Signage Cloud.

The Results

Today, 20 of Adventist Health’s 26 markets have digital signage. With 195 screens total—approximately 80% of which are patient-facing. the time it takes to update and manage content has decreased, despite the steady growth of their digital signage network. After migrating to the Harmony Signage Cloud, Jen saves 16 hours a month for content updates, and new screens are added in weeks, not months. The health system also saw a reduction in the amount of print signage needed, saving money by eliminating tens of thousands of dollars in printing costs, and improving Adventist Health’s environmental impact.

The real key to Adventist Health’s digital signage success has been the flexibility of Harmony Signage Cloud and the improvement in time-to-value. One of the ways they measure the success of digital signage is through engagement- they include custom QR codes in content so the audience can take action. For example, when an employee is retiring, colleagues can scan a QR code from a digital sign and be taken to a site to share their well-wishes. This not only allows Adventist Health to turn interest into action, but it streamlines the employee experience and enables the health system to support a culture of recognition. Another way that Adventist Health supports a culture of recognition on digital signage is by highlighting when nurses win DAISY Awards—an award given by the DAISY Foundation that recognizes a nurse who exemplifies each hospital's mission and values. DAISY awards have been proven to impact healthcare areas by contributing to a healthy work environment, improving nurse engagement, and enhancing the patient and family experience, so highlighting the nurses who are recipients has a positive impact on Adventist Health’s overall success.

There's so much potential with digital signage and it has become a key part of our communication plans. My favorite things are when new contributors begin to realize the power available in this tool and when local leaders specifically ask for things to be 'on the screens'." —Jen Jacobs, Digital Marketing Manager at Adventist Health

Looking to the future, Jen hopes to implement digital signage in every market in the Adventist Health system and train more local users to contribute content. She continues to look for more innovative ways to leverage the full capabilities of Poppulo Harmony Signage Cloud and better inform and engage patients and employees.