Enhancing Patient Experience through Effective Wayfinding in Healthcare Facilities

Background

As a healthcare designer, I've both visited and designed various healthcare facilities, encountering a significant challenge in the process—the design of effective wayfinding systems. Navigating a hospital during site visits often proves challenging, emphasizing the pressing need for a thoughtful and user-friendly wayfinding design. It is hard for me as an architectural designer who looks at plan everyday. With the constant renovation inside Hospitals which worsen the situation, I cannot connect deeper with patients and visitors' frustrations when visiting large healthcare facilities. Recognizing this need, I have devoted myself to developing a comprehensive wayfinding solution aimed at guiding parents and visitors, starting from compact clinical spaces. In this research study, I present findings derived from a combination of investigative research and insights gained through my professional experience.

Abstract

Effective wayfinding is a crucial aspect of healthcare facility design, impacting patient satisfaction, staff efficiency, and overall operational effectiveness. This research study explores the significance of wayfinding in healthcare environments, the challenges associated with navigation, and innovative strategies to improve the overall patient and visitor experience.

Introduction

Navigating a healthcare facility can be a challenging experience for patients, patients family and friends, visitors, and even healthcare staff. Effective wayfinding is not only essential for timely access to medical services but also plays a vital role in reducing stress and anxiety among patients and their families. This study examines the importance of wayfinding in healthcare settings and its impact on the overall well-being of individuals.

Challenges

a. Complexity of Healthcare Environments: Healthcare facilities are often large and complex, with multiple departments, clinics, and floors. Navigating through these intricate spaces can be daunting for individuals unfamiliar with the layout.

This is an example of a complex floor plan of Children's Hospital Dallas.

b. Emotional State of Patients: Patients and their families are often in a heightened emotional state, making it critical to provide clear and intuitive wayfinding systems to reduce stress and facilitate a more positive experience.

c. Diverse User Groups: Healthcare facilities serve individuals with varying degrees of physical and cognitive abilities. Wayfinding solutions must be inclusive and accessible to cater to the needs of diverse user groups.

Impact on Patient Satisfaction and Health Outcomes

a. Patient Satisfaction: Studies have shown a direct correlation between effective wayfinding and patient satisfaction. Clear signage and well-designed paths contribute to a positive perception of the healthcare facility.

b. Timely Access to Care: Efficient wayfinding ensures that patients can locate their destinations promptly, leading to reduced wait times and improved access to medical services.

Innovative Wayfinding Strategies and Case Studies

a. Digital Signage and Mobile Apps: Integration of digital signage and mobile applications provides real-time information, interactive maps, and personalized navigation assistance for users.

Conventional solution is to place kiosks around the facilities to provide directional assistance. However, you may need one at almost every intersection and gathering space for complex buildings. It may take up a lot of physical space and the action could be repetative for visitors.

Another common solution is to design a navigation app for the hopsital. However, technicians may need to update the map real-time for any renovation inside the hospital. The different levels and difference between physical and digital environment may still be confusing.

Clear communications are the key to positive patient experiences in hospitals and healthcare practices. Immediate welcoming visual experiences are the first impression for a patient and promote a positive environment and the organization’s brand identity. A more systematic design of hospital digital signage may simplify the experience.

b. Color-coded Pathways: Implementing a color-coded system for different departments and services aids in quick recognition and enhances navigation efficiency.

Here are some of my implemented professional work and precedents that have successfully helped the visitor experience.

1. Children's PHS Rambler Park - wayfinding in a mixed-used space

Children's Health has been our client for a long time. This is an off-site clinic desigining for Pediatric Heart Specialists. It is a rather compact clinic with providers offices, exam rooms, echo rooms, nurse workspace, and other support rooms. The doctors love an open clinic with no physical divider but still prefer some privacy. So, the design was to use flooring and ceiling elements only to direct visitors with minimal signage. Also, we used such design to divide the function of an open space into office area and patient area.

Curved ceiling furr down directs visitors from waiting area to the inside of the clinic.

Coved lights and colored ceiling furr down to emphasize the centralized nurse station.

The swap of color on flooring and ceiling to indicate a different function of space.

Check-out area with lower ceiling and signage helps visitors to find the exit.

2. Village Health Plano - wayfinding in a long hallway (common in healcare facilities)

For larger facilities like Village Health. There are usually pods of exam rooms that are directed by one main corridor. Often, patients get lost trying to figure out which sub-corridor they should turn into. For this design, we used color (gradients of paint on wall), signage (a name for each horizontal corridor), and visibility (alternating the half-tree structure that hosts the signage) to direct people to their destinations. Even though the final implementation was deviated from the most effective wayfinding design due to budget, we understood that it would have been a very successful wayfinding solution.

Check-in with curved ceiling furr down that directs visitors to the entrance.

Main corridor with gradient shades of green paint for identification of sub-corridors.

Main corridor with alternated half-tree structure for easier read of signage.

Check-out area with half-tree structure that directs to the exit.

3. Seattle Children's Hostpial - wayfinding in a complex hospital

This is a precedent that I have found very helpful in helping vistors navigate large healthcare factilities like a complex hospital. The wayfinding initiative at Seattle Children’s Hospital goes beyond offering mere directions; it envelops patient families in a comforting visual environment that facilitates their journey. Functioning as a fresh gateway to Seattle Children’s, this structure warmly receives visitors while introducing the hospital’s visual identity. The synergy between artwork and wayfinding is evident, featuring depictions of animals engaging in acts of care, comfort, and wonder.

The Discovery Trail map links all four zones within the hospital from Forest to Ocean.

An interactive diorama at reception desk playfully educates the campus layout.

Animals portrayed for patients' care and comfort in Forest concept.

Landscapes designed for patients' care and comfort in River concept.

While digital assistance and spatial enhancements have led to positive outcomes, significant challenges still persist in navigating larger facilities.
What can we do to improve hopsital experience using what we have learned in all different solutions?
The answer may be more of a multidisciplinary solution - Augmented Reality.

c. Augmented Reality.

AR apps can offer real-time, step-by-step navigation instructions overlaid onto the physical environment through a mobile device- a tool everyone in modern society relies on. This helps patients, families, visitors, and even staff find their way within the complex hospital layout in more immersive ways.
While there are a lot of advantages in pushing technology into Healthcare field, there are still a lot of challenges of Using AR in Hospital Navigation. Maybe that is one of the biggest problem why there aren't many AR navigation use in hospitals and other larger facilities like airports yet.