Two of the most common places for people to become lost are airports and hospitals. Expeditions to airports are almost always planned (usually well in advance) and most of us factor in extra time to reduce the stress of navigating an unfamiliar space. Unlike airports, hospitals are not set up to host large numbers of people waiting around for extended periods of time, and, crucially, visits to a hospital are very often unplanned and frequently rushed and stressful.
According to research by US wayfinding consultants Carpman and Grant (2001): “Stress caused by disorientation may result in feelings of helplessness, raised blood pressure, headaches, increased physical exertion, and fatigue. In addition, patients may be affected by the wayfinding troubles of visitors who, because they became lost, may have less time to spend with patients.”
People in a raised state of anxiety can misjudge journey times and struggle with signage and on-wall maps. 30% of visitors to a hospital get lost on their first visit, and more than 85% of patients ask for directions. (Source: Deloitte Digital)
Wayfinding systems in and around medical facilities aim to ease stress by providing easy-to-follow signage and legible directions, but hospital sites can be challenging.
They often involve multiple buildings (usually added to the original structure over time as departments are expanded or introduced); these architectural mosaics can be connected by labyrinth-like corridors and walkways; departments and facilities can be relocated over time to adapt to evolving demands and/or budget reallocations; and maintenance or redecoration work can require temporary closures and/or diversions from regular routes between parts of the hospital.
Hospitals are fluid beasts, and they have little respect for the work that goes into traditional wayfinding planning and design.
Technology to the rescue
Digital location and navigation systems are easier and quicker to update than traditional physical signage. We are used to global positioning systems guiding us down roads and pavements, and the clear next step is a sat-nav for indoors, such as BuzzStreets Wayfinding system, which has already been trialled in a number of hospitals, including the Chelsea and Westminster in London.
Vanessa Sloane, Deputy Chief Nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust says: “Overall, we’ve seen that the app helps save resources, improve patient outcomes, and enhances the entire hospital experience for patients and their families.”
The app uses a system of BLE Beacons, Wi-Fi signals, and the Earth’s magnetic field to pinpoint your location, giving real-time directions, both spoken and visual, to allow you to navigate through a hospital site, both horizontally and vertically: if you want/need to avoid stairs, the app will show you how.
There are financial and resource management implications when doctors, nurses and assistants are stopped (and therefore delayed) by visitors asking for directions, and when patients are late for appointments because they got lost within the hospital. Digital indoor navigation can save hospitals time and money, daily.
Staff can get lost too
Research looking at doctors’ expectations and experiences at UK teaching hospitals found that many participants reported that route optimisation was a vital part of task prioritisation, with this being most important during crash calls when staff is under time pressure. Almost half of the participants reported becoming lost on the way to a crash call.
One participant said: “Lots of experiences getting lost, need to ask nurses or hope you bump into someone else on a crash call. Even when you know where to go, you often don’t go the best way.” Another participant reported: “Crash calls are often slowed when you don’t know where it is. Ward names can give no indication of where they are. Even registrars get lost sometimes.” (Source: British Medical Journal)
Not just a fancy map
Many other services can be incorporated into a digital navigation application, including appointment scheduling, providing examination results, the availability of spaces in parking areas, and general hospital information.
Additionally, systems can collect information about the flow of people throughout a hospital site, allowing managers to plan to better avoid crowds in certain areas: if a route is consistently busy or over-crowded, steps can be taken to help ease traffic either permanently or on specific days of the week or even parts of the day.
By gathering information about routes and traffic of patients and professionals, a digital navigation system can assist with a hospital’s cleaning and disinfection routines by identifying the areas of the hospital experiencing the highest levels of traffic, the type of traffic, and the dayparts where traffic is heaviest. Managers can efficiently organise cleaning staff and target areas requiring more frequent attention.
Tracking equipment and patients
Equipment is often regularly moved around a hospital (the most obvious example is wheelchairs) and time (and therefore money) can be wasted searching for these items. A piece of equipment can be considered lost—as no one knows where it is—and so an (unnecessary) order for a new one can be made. Digital Wayfinding systems can allow staff to trace and easily recover equipment, cutting down waste and boosting efficiency.
Daily safety management of patients with mental health problems/illnesses (Parkinson, circumstantial or profound amnesia, Alzheimer’s, etc.) who may become lost within healthcare buildings during hospitalisation is a huge responsibility. Digital navigation systems can track these patients, making it easier for staff to aid patients back to their ward.
Wayfinding is the communication of information that helps people navigate from one area of a physical space to another. In addition to easily and quickly incorporating changes to that physical space, digital wayfinding can also enhance a person’s experience and understanding of the environment they are moving through, make the working lives of staff easier, and reduce demands on resources and budgets.
