Whether patients arrive for a dental cleaning, teeth whitening or other routine procedures or need emergency treatment for broken or abscessed teeth, dental visits can be stressful. In fact, one study found that more than one-third of people experienced dental anxiety.
It’s common for dental clinics to have televisions in the waiting rooms or treatment rooms to offer patients a distraction. But research shows that some programming, including the news, can increase stress.
"It's important to us to provide a calming, positive experience for our patients from the moment they walk in the door,” says Allison Marrow, director of growth at Jefferson Dental. “Many patients are stressed or in pain, so we had to find programming for our lobby TVs that would put them at ease.”
Jefferson Dental started using UPshow CONNECT in its 72 offices across Texas and Oklahoma. The patient engagement platform that leverages ChromeOS broadcasts sponsored content on televisions in the waiting and operating rooms to eliminate stressful content, improve the patient experience, offer seamless branded messaging and turn screens into revenue-generating tools.
Promoting positive messaging
Televisions are “significant elements of the waiting room environment” and command more attention than posters, brochures or other static images. Screens are also an essential source of entertainment for dental patients who are receiving deep cleanings or having cavities filled and might be in the office for a few hours.
“Having something playing on the TV that's engaging, entertaining and educational makes the visit go by faster and improves our patients' overall experience,” says Marrow.
Television programming offers more than just entertainment; digital content is also effective for sharing health messages. Jefferson Dental has included content about the importance of good oral health, before and after photos of patients who received orthodontia or teeth whitening and information about the latest technology like dental lasers that can drastically improve gum health in just 5 minutes. The content often includes calls to action such as, “Ask your hygienist if you’re a candidate for laser treatment.”
“Digital signage helps encourage our patients to ask questions about their oral health, starting conversations they wouldn't have otherwise started had they not seen that information,” Marrow says. “We see UPshow CONNECT as a great way to capture the attention of a captive audience in our locations and share relevant, timely content that resonates with our patients and keeps them engaged.”
Building a brand experience
Maintaining a consistent brand experience with multiple offices spread across two states proved challenging for the growing dental brand. Before UPshow, the marketing team relied on printed signage to communicate current promotions and brand offerings, and ensuring that individual locations were installing and removing it at the right times proved expensive and stressful, according to Marrow.
UPshow offered a solution. All of the content creation is handled at the corporate level, allowing clinic staff to prioritize the patient experience. The patient engagement platform offers a Canva integration that enables the marketing team to connect their existing creative assets into the UPshow CONNECT platform.
Audrey Bridges, marketing manager at Jefferson Dental, can use the scheduling feature to deliver time-bound content to all offices and release location-specific messaging in individual offices.
“We've worked hard to make sure our branding and messaging is consistent,” says Bridges. “Seeing our branded content on the screens in our offices also reinforces our brand promises to our employees, enabling them to deliver a consistent experience that meets our patients' expectations.”
Improving internal metrics
The latest data shows that almost half of Americans haven’t seen a dentist in the past year and 20 percent have skipped dental appointments for more than three years. Among patients who schedule regular appointments, 92 percent admit they would delay dental care because of the cost.
Ensuring that patients who need dental care receive it is a huge part of the brand promise at Jefferson Dental.
“One of the common objections for dentistry is cost,” says Marrow. “Patients may be sitting in the waiting room dreading the financial conversation and wondering, ‘Am I going to be able to pay for this?’”
Jefferson Dental uses UPshow CONNECT, a Google ChromeOS joint solution, to share information about promotional discounts and payment plans to educate patients about their full-service offerings and alleviate concerns about cost.
UPshow CONNECT has been such a powerful tool that Jefferson Dental has started using UPshow SHIFT. Adding the employee engagement platform has been a “seamless integration” that enables the corporate office to disseminate information at the click of a button to teams across 72 offices, according to Marrow.
“UPshow has really improved the four wall experience because it allows us to deliver very timely, relevant information,” she adds. “For our patients, it builds awareness of our comprehensive care model and the different services we provide. Most importantly, it helps us educate them on why their oral health is so important, which builds trust.”
UPshow provides the technology along with customer support to help healthcare organizations connect with their patients and employees to improve operations. Contact UPshow to learn more.