What to put on the TV in your waiting room

A waiting room TV should answer the two questions people ask the front desk: how long is the wait, and whose turn is it. Put that on the screen, add the Wi-Fi code and one review QR code, and leave everything else off. A browser tab on the TV you already have will run it, and a few of these jobs need nothing more than a link.

The information that earns its place

• Now serving. Queue number display shows a large number with a heading you choose. Someone at the desk changes the number from a phone once the screen is live, so nobody has to walk over to it.
• The Wi-Fi code. Wi-Fi QR code sign shows the network name and password in large letters, plus a QR code that phones can scan to join. Use a guest network, and change the sign from a phone when the password changes.
• One review or booking code. Google review QR code turns a review link you already have into a sign. OwnScreen displays the code and the link; Google collects the review.
• Practice notices. Opening hours, a closure, a new service, a phone number for out-of-hours. Digital notice board puts each notice on its own slide and rotates them.

That is enough for most waiting rooms. A screen with more than this is usually a screen people stop reading.

What never goes on the screen

No patient names, no appointment details, no room numbers tied to a person, no results. A display link carries its whole message, so anyone who photographs the screen or opens the link later can read it. A queue number that only the desk can match to a person is fine; a name next to it is a privacy problem you cannot undo.

Keep the sound off. Televisions in waiting rooms are watched in short glances between other things, and a screen with sound forces everyone to listen to it.

Run it from the desk

Sign in, press Save and choose Go live on the queue sign. Open its link once on the waiting room TV, or open Pair a TV on the TV and enter its code on your phone. The saved screen's page on your phone becomes the remote.

Press +1 for the next person, −1 if you advanced by mistake, or Set to for a particular number. The number is a counter in the message, so the sign needs one line like Now serving and one like {counter}. A visible, connected live screen checks for changes every three seconds, so give the TV a moment to catch up. An ordinary display link keeps its starting number, and OwnScreen does not issue tickets or decide who comes next; it only shows the number you set.

Give the screen a schedule

If the waiting room and the treatment room show different things, save both and give the live screen a schedule: which saved screen to show, on which days and between which times. The screen switches at the times you set, using the time zone you choose.

Schedules and phone control of a live screen need a paid plan. Starter is US$4.99 a month or US$49.90 a year for one live screen, and Pro is US$14.99 a month or US$149.90 a year for up to five, which covers a waiting room and a second screen at the desk. Every plan starts with a 2-day free trial.

Now serving42

Make a queue sign free

Set it up once, then check it weekly

Look at the screen from the seat furthest from it, with the room lights on. If the number is not readable there, make the heading shorter and the number larger. Then test a restart: turn the TV off and on, and see whether the sign comes back by itself. Most TVs need the browser reopened, which is a job for the opening checklist.

Finally, decide who owns the number. A waiting room display that shows last night's queue is worse than a blank screen, because people trust it.