So after watching the Google TV & Logitech Revue announcement several weeks ago I began thinking about how Google TV could be used in a healthcare setting. One of the ways it could be used is a "Patient Edutainment" solution.
So you may be asking yourself what is "Patient Edutainment". This is a system that is accessed and utilized by the patient during their stay in the hospital. It usually consists of TV, the ability to access patient education materials, surf the web, on demand movies and some have online games. The problem with most of the "Patient Edutainment' systems is that a lot of the require a dedicated network and server hardware (movie server) to provide these services to the patient room.
By utilizing Google TV the content that is typically hosted on dedicated hardware by the hospital would now be hosted by Google (YouTube) or Netflix for movies. Obviously, this assumes that Netflix would provide a subscription solution to a corporation. At the time of this post I have been unable to confirm whether or not Netflix would provide this service offering.
Other advantages that Google TV provides is that will ultimately will provide the ability to access various applications like Facebook, Games, and Google Docs. By providing a solution like the Logitech Revue then this eliminates the need for hospitals to either provide laptops to the patients or ensure that every room has Internet access.
The above are just a few thoughts I have had on this idea and really haven't had a chance to confirm how it would be excepted by the patients and clinical staff in the hospitals. Hopefully, as offerings like Google TV is further developed hospitals will consider them as alternatives to traditional entertainment solutions for patients.
Jeremy