As elsewhere throughout industry and business, hospitals have embraced video as a training tool.  In an article in Hospitals magazine, a look at the use of video in medical facilities provides an insightful look at video use in inpatient care, outpatient care, as  well as several other areas

--From Hospitals, May 5, 1990 v64 n9 p52(4)

Videos have become an important tool in U.S. hospitals. Videos are now used throughout the hospital--in patient rooms and physician offices as well as the staff training and development department and the outpatient resource center.

Some training specialists predict that trend-setting hospital executives will create video programs on a weekly or monthly basis to disseminate their visions, policies, and motivational messages to their employees just as their counterparts in business have begun to do. And Ohio State University Hospital, Columbus, is in the process of opening its own video store to enable patientsto view first-run movies during their hospital stay.

Video is incredibly versatile and useful to anyone whose mission is to efficiently motivate, inspire, educate, or teach specific skills. With its readily accessible and affordable technology, videos have all but replaced 16mm film and film strips for both patient teaching and staff training. In the next couple of years, videos are expected to replace slides as well.

This combination of versatility and accessibility has led many observers to tout video as the communications vehicle that will revolutionize patient education and staff training departments in hospitals. The fact is, it may already have done so--but not quite as predicted. Some experts believe video still has revolutionary potential. Others contend that it is still being used.

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