Three Tips for Better Wayfinding in Modern Healthcare Facilities

When most people think of a hospital or a medical facility, the first thing that comes to mind isn't stellar design. However, the modern healthcare facility is no longer permeated by sterile white walls, industrial-grade linoleum floors, and stainless steel sinks as its primary design cues. Design is now an integral part of healthcare, with spaces utilizing soothing colors, cutting-edge materials, and innovative technology to soothe anxiety and provide comfort to their patients and their visitors.

However, design in healthcare today doesn’t stop at the doorway of the “rooms” within the facility but extends into the hallways, passageways, and breezeways that connect all the areas as well. Nowhere is this design more important than in the category of wayfinding.

Wayfinding includes traditional environmental signage, like the color-coded signs that depict room numbers and room types, and also includes digital wayfinding and technology design as well. A properly designed wayfinding system will utilize both the analog and digital counterparts and is key to creating comfort in a foreign environment.

An investment in good wayfinding can greatly reduce anxiety for both visitors and patients, assuring that family and friends can be connected as quickly and as easily as possible in what is typically an already stressful situation.

Here are 3 opportunities for using technology in your healthcare wayfinding design to provide exceptional experiences to your patients and their friends and families.

Interactive Kiosks

Remember malls? Remember mall directories with a You Are Here star denoting your location?  An interactive kiosk in your healthcare facility takes that concept and kicks it up a notch. Visitors can come into the facility, approach the kiosk and search for their loved one by name, locate their room, and then get directions to that part of the facility based on their current location. If your facility also utilizes a patient tracking system, data from that system can also be leveraged to let visitors know that the patient may be in a different location or unavailable during testing, etc.

Digital Signage 

Healthcare facilities are already using traditional environmental signage to denote departments, floors, specialties, etc within their facilities, as well as note room numbers and designations. Given that, what is the advantage of utilizing a digital signage system? Small displays outside each patient room can denote the patient’s name so that visitors find them easier. Signs in hallways or above departments can be changed easily to accurately describe the current use of the space. Upcoming events, department schedules, and other important information can all be updated to inform patients, staff, and visitors about important events.

App-Based NaviGation

Healthcare facilities like the Mayo Clinic are also leveraging personal devices in their wayfinding. Specialized mapping apps that utilize location services in the devices can give visitors and patients a turn-by-turn walkthrough of the facility, assuring they reach their destination as intended. The app also extends beyond the clinic to help users find accommodations and restaurants during their visit to the facility.

Technology design doesn’t stop at the waiting or patient room, it extends to every passageway of the facility. A properly implemented digital wayfinding system can reduce anxiety and frustration for patients and visitors and increase overall patient satisfaction. Adding a digital component to wayfinding can add flexibility and detail that environmental signage cannot easily offer.