Heard of Skylight before? They equip hospital rooms with in-room media centers providing key hospital information, health education videos, satisfaction surveys, room service dining menus, and digital entertainment (movies, games, music) and communication options (email) designed to enhance the patient experience.

They seem to be capitalizing on two trends: the need to build patient loyalty via an enhanced total patient experience, the increase need for connectedness via technology. In just the last month, they announced contracts with Woman's Hospital (16th in deliveries in the U.S.), Providence St. Peter Hospital, and St. Vincent Hospital.

Studies show that the system reduces the non-clinical task load usually handled by nurses, potentially boosting nurse morale and retention. The system also enables administration to obtain instant patient feedback, allowing them to respond more quickly to service failures and deficiencies.

Check out this Advisory Board brief (PDF) (always excellent stuff from AB ) on the impact of service excellence on hospital success. One hospital using Skylight's system (page 6) is now able to (1) respond to service lapses within 60 minutes; (2) increase bedside feedback 3 to 6-fold.